Thirteen year old Primrose lives with her peculiar, remote mother; nine year old David has just moved to the neighborhood to live with his grandmother.

In this sequel (Stargirl, 2000), Stargirl and her family have moved from Arizona to Pennsylvania to a neighborhood with slightly zany people (like an agoraphobic neighbor and an affable thief).

The boy doesn't know his family but survives in Warsaw, Poland in 1939, by stealing food and staying away from the Jackboots, the German soldiers. When he is befriended by Uri, a Jewish boy, he becomes known as Miska.

Seventh grader "Crash" Coogan is a jock who, as he begins narrating this humorous, touching novel, is a downright bully. He takes aim most often at a neighbor and classmate named Penn. Penn not only wears hand-me-downs but joins the cheerleading squad.