Love, Stargirl

On New Year’s Day, Stargirl Caraway begins “The Longest Letter in the History of the World” to her ex-boyfriend Leo Borlock (49). Her letter takes the form of short, first-person diary entries. Stargirl and her family now live in Leo’s old home state, Pennsylvania.

Stargirl still has Cinnamon, her pet rat, and she still practices daily meditation in a field she calls the Enchanted Hill. She still measures her happiness by the number of stones in her happy wagon. Now, she is deeply affected by the loss of Leo. Stargirl cries over old memories. She still loves Leo and thinks he will love her again. Stargirl wonders what she did wrong in their relationship.

Stargirl is homeschooled, but also studies more eclectic topics. She takes field trips to local destinations and writes poems about them. Stargirl encounters an enigmatic dwarf-like man in a tasseled green hat by the cement plant. At the cemetery, Stargirl observes a solitary older man wearing a red and gold plaid scarf sitting beside a gravestone which lists the name “Grace” with a date of death, and “Charles” with no date of death listed. Stargirl thinks of him as