The first ten years of the Millennium are quickly turning into the decade of the Young Adult fiction. "The beloved _______, soon to be a major motion picture" novel cover just can’t get enough of itself as book after book takes a swing at making it the C.S. Lewis/Potter way.
And thus, my apologies to fans of the young adult novel Star Girl (not to be confused with DCs estrogenic Captain America knockoff Star Spangled Kid– aka Star Girl). I haven’t read the book, but the whole affair of another story about weird girl just wanting to make friends sounds mildly unbearable– which might put me squarely in the judgmental few, since apparently the book is now standard reading in most High Schools. Further testament to the degradation of the American School system? You decide.
Written by Jerry Spinelli, the book chronicles the down and outs of Stargirl Caraway- the eccentric embodiment of the "Be Yourself!" mantra, whose arrival at an Arizona High School initially garners responses of "Weird!", then "Cute!”. Of course, being a message-laden YA novel, mild tolerance quickly devolves into intolerance and "Bitch needs to go!". Not unlike the Leslie Burke subplot in Bridge to Terabithia, the story is a treatise on acceptance, young adult heartbreak and of course "weird kids are cool". It’s hard to knock the themes, but how about toning it down on the eccentric main characters in these YA staples, please? My children will thank you in about a decade.
Stargirl’s road to a Cineplex near you is being paved by Montecito Pictures, Producers of the surprisingly decent Disturbia and the upcoming (February 08) Spiderwick Chronicles, yet another YA adaptation.
Since it’s a relatively new project acquisition, writers and directors are currently being shopped for the project.