Sparkgirl?

It’s possible I have a tiny little hint of a whiff of a speck of whisper of an obsession with a book called Stargirl. It’s just that Jerry Spinelli does everything right in this book. He makes a character so beautiful (and beautifully flawed, though it’s hard to see it when you’re reading the story–at least it was for me) that she’s far and away the most memorable and admirable character I’ve ever read. On top of that, the writing is heart-warming and magnetic at the same time. There’s magic and realism but you couldn’t call magic realism. For me, it’s the perfect YA book. I don’t know how to define story, but I know this is it. Much like you when  you look at a painting, you don’t know how to explain it’s Art, but you know when you see it, that’s Art. As I told Steph in an interview over at Hey! Teenager Of The Year, this book, Stargirl, made me want to write YA.

Not too long ago a good friend of mine got a chance to meet Jerry Spinelli and his wife Eileen, who is also a writer, and who (I’ve heard) is the inspiration for the character Stargirl. Then all of a sudden, on Twitter, this friend (oh, fine, it’s Berk) starts posting pictures of them all meeting each other and I may have been a wee bit jealous and BAM! There’s a photo of a signed copy of the book that says, “To Jody.”

Kind of made my day.

So, I had to post this:

As you can see, I’m happy. But it bears repeating. This book makes me happy. Thanks, Berk.