Our Author 411 Questions

I composed and sent off Book Grub's Author 411 questions about Love, Stargirl over the weekend. Hopefully, they will pick some of ours to send to Jerry Spinelli! I will let you know as soon as I hear anything!

Stargirl ends with an epilogue 15 years in the future, yet Love, Stargirl starts right after she moves away. How did you try to reconcile the plot of Love, Stargirl with the ending you had already written? Did you have any difficulties? Do you have any plans to write a third book about Leo or Stargirl that would tie the two together?

Stargirl is written as a narrative from Leo’s point of view, while Love, Stargirl is written as a diary from Stargirl’s point of view. The books are very different because of this. Which storytelling style do you like better for these characters? Or does the story work better when told from both points of view?

Stargirl is incredibly different than the average teen, and there isn’t anyone like her in other books for teens. How did you come up with the idea for a character like Stargirl? Do you know any real-life Stargirls?

In Love, Stargirl, Stargirl collects a lot of unlikely and unusual friends. How did you manage to make these characters interesting without making them unrealistic?

At the beginning of Love, Stargirl, she says, "I love beginnings. If I were in charge of calendars, every day would be January 1." If you were in charge, what day would you like to celebrate more often?

If you could talk to Stargirl, what would you ask her?

Do you celebrate solstice or other natural events? If so, how?

What is your experience with homeschooling? What drawbacks and benefits do you see in that type of education? Did you have to research it to write Stargirl or Love, Stargirl?

If you could change your name, what would you want to be called?

Are there any plans to make a movie of Stargirl or Love, Stargirl? Would you like to see her on the big screen?

Do you have plans to write sequels to any other of your stand-alone books? Are any of your other characters, such as Maniac Magee, wanting to be revisited in some form?

Are any of your book characters based on real people?

What new projects are you working on?

Which of your books are you most proud of? Do your children or grandchildren have any favorites?