Stargirl is about Stargirl Caraway; however, the story is told from the perspective of Leo Borlock. The result is that both Leo and the reader are outside observers to Stargirl, her antics, and her motivations. I would say that both Leo and Stargirl function as protagonists to the novel, and a great deal of the novel reads like it is Leo's attempt to figure out and define Stargirl. Leo will eventually learn that she isn't a person that is so easily defined.

While I would like to say that Stargirl is an uplifting story about a free spirited girl and her transition into the life of a public high school student, I can't fully embrace such a simplistic summary of the book. On one hand, the novel is about Stargirl, her relationship with Leo, her time on the cheer leading squad, her lunch room antics, her random acts of kindness, and so on. On the other hand, the story is also very much about how powerful the forces of conformity are. Stargirl exists as her own person, and she doesn't care what anybody else thinks about her, except for perhaps Leo. When she decides to conform to the "norm" in order to make Leo happy, readers see how Stargirl's own happiness begins to dwindle.

As is the case at just about any high school, the students at Mica Area High School know that the key to not being picked on is to fly under the radar, and make yourself as invisible as possible. Nobody, however, has ever told our main character, Stargirl Caraway, this. Having been home schooled for fifteen years, she arrives at Mica in the tenth grade, and there's nothing conventional about her.

The story is told from the perspective of Leo Borlock, an eleventh-grader who falls head over heels in love with Stargirl.

Stargirl is undeniably eccentric, and her classmates initially react to her odd behavior with suspicion and seem to be afraid of socializing with her. As time goes by, however, Stargirl's individualism and unique character inspires some of her classmates to think outside the box and become more open-minded. Later in the year, however, the tide turns against Stargirl, and her peers unite in rejecting her.

It is in the second half of the novel that Stargirl and Leo start dating, but Leo makes the mistake of trying to change Stargirl and make her more conventional—which she firmly is not. Leo eventually breaks up with Stargirl and ends up regretting it later in life.

This coming-of-age story, or bildungsroman, forces young readers to think about what it means to stand out and what the consequences of ostracizing someone are.

Stargirl is about freedom and conformity. More specifically, it follows what happens when a strange and wonderful young woman named Stargirl enters a public high school. She's free-spirited, and unlike anything the students have seen. The students, including Leo the narrator, find her strange, then come to like her, then find her strange again. In Leo's case, the liking is personal--they become boyfriend and girlfriend--and in moving away from her, he breaks her heart and essentially betrays her. A fine and sad story.