1. Stargirl
By Jerry Spinelli

2. Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli, takes place in the small, but growing city of Mica, Arizona.
Arizona is located in the South West. It borders Mexico and several United States.

4. Arizona, like Mica, continues to grow and develop

5. but much of the land remains wild.

9. Leo and Stargirl like to watch the sunset, sitting in the desert alone.

10. Deserts, though they seem barren, are actually hotbeds for thousands of species of plants, animals, and other organisms.

12. Discoveryeducation.com video

13. We will learn about many new things, many of which are common to the South West United States. Some of these include:

14. The name Mica comes from a Silicate Mineral.

15. Cactus Paddles, Western Texas

16. Cactus Paddle

17. VOCABULARY from Stargirl
There are many new words that we will learn in this story.
There are also many words that are particular to the South West and that we might not be familiar with since we live in the North East.
They include:

18. Saguaro sa·gua·ro [suh-gwahr-oh, -wahr-oh]
a tall, horizontally branched cactus, Carnegiea
(or Cereus) gigantea, of Arizona and neighboring
regions, yielding a useful wood and bearing an
edible fruit: still locally common, though some
populations have been reduced.

19. Shunning
noun [shuhn-ing] deliberately avoiding; keeping away from or preventing from happening [syn: avoidance]

20. Ocotillo
Ocotillo is a tall, stout shrub with many stiff, spiny stems rising from the base, each of which can be simple or few-branched.  It can grow to as tall as 20' and the stems are leafless for much of the year, producing masses of leaves usually only after a rainy period.  
Ocotillo is common in the Colorado Desert, where it is in fact one of the botanical indicators of that desert, but also in the s.e. Mojave Desert, blooming from March to July.  
These pictures were taken in the southern part of Joshua Tree National Park.

21. Ocotillo

24. Prickly Pear Cactus

25. Saguaro Cactus
Saguaro Video

26. Four Leaf Clover
I'm looking over a four-leaf clover That I overlooked before. One leaf is sunshine, the second is rain, Third is the roses that grow in the lane. No need explaining, the one remaining Is somebody I adore. I'm looking over a four-leaf clover That I overlooked before

27. Clover Song and Lyrics I'M LOOKING OVER A FOUR-LEAF CLOVER Art Mooney Words by Mort Dixon, music by Harry Woods Written in popularized in 1948 by Art Mooney