Book Summary
This book follows Jeffrey Lionel Magee
as he goes through many challenges and changes in his life. First, Jeffrey is
orphaned at the young age of three, and he is sent to stay with his Aunt Dot
and Uncle Dan. But his aunt and uncle hate each other—they barely even talk—and
after eight years, Jeffrey snaps. He runs away, and he keeps on running. A year
later, he ends up in Two Mills, to become a legend, and to start to bring two
sides of town together.
Jeffrey becomes known as Maniac Magee, a
legend of Two Mills. He wanders the town on his own, he explores, he runs (in
his tattered, old sneakers), and he doesn’t much care (or maybe he doesn’t
really know) about the differences from the East and the West ends of town—blacks
live in the East end and whites live in the West end. But he appears anywhere
and hangs with anyone without fear, surprising people with his incredible,
athletic feats, like intercepting a football in one hand while holding a book
in the other, and hitting a fast frog from the big bully McNab. Jeffrey, now
known as Maniac for the unbelievable things he does, makes friends and enemies
on both sides of town. He finds a comfortable home with the Beales, a black
family who takes him in and treats him like family. Maniac is kind and
respectful, he helps clean up, and he helps take care of the crazy little ones.
The Beales love him, and he loves them back. But when the Beales start getting
hateful graffiti on their home because a white boy is staying with them, Maniac
can’t help but leave to avoid hurting the family he loves.
Maniac is on the run again, and he meets
Grayson, an older man, a groundskeeper, who lets Maniac make a home out of a
baseball equipment room. The two actually become quite close: Maniac teaches
Grayson how to read, and Grayson helps Maniac get really good at baseball. But
when Grayson dies, Maniac is alone. Again. But by another series of surprising
events, Maniac eventually finds himself in another home, the home of the white kid
McNab, the big bully. By the end, Maniac finds a way to bring his various homes
together, mixing one side of town with the other. And he finally finds a
permanent address where he can hang up his tattered sneakers, an address to
call his own.
APA Reference of Book
Spinelli, J.
(1990). Maniac Magee. New York, NY:
HarperTrophy.
Impressions
I really love
this book! The plot is pretty unbelievable, but I fell in love with the
characters and the complicated relationships that spring up between them. First
of all, I really enjoyed getting to know Maniac Magee. He is a unique kid with
a host of admirable qualities: he is kind, athletic, smart, humble, caring, and
so on. He is, in a way, made out to be nearly perfect by (almost) always rising
to the occasion and coming out on top. But I was okay with the fact that Maniac
Magee seemed to be perfect. It may be because I was rooting for Maniac to
overcome all of the hardship that had been handed him, and it may be that I was
rooting for good to overcome ignorance (not necessarily evil). Either way, I
was completely invested in Maniac, this kind but talented kid who did not
complain but who did what he needed to do to fend for himself.
I also really
appreciate this book because it encourages readers to think critically about
tough issues that continue to plague our society today, like segregation and
racism. The book shows how Maniac is “blind” to the color of another kid’s skin
(p. 57). In a way, Maniac represents equality. And this may be way Maniac is
represented as such a legendary, perfect character—because he represents an
ideal that can be difficult to attain in real life. But the book provides hope
that this ideal that Maniac represents can possibly be reached, amidst the hope
that people can also overcome their own individual tragedies to find happiness
again. So even though this book is unrealistic, and Maniac is an unlikely kid, I
really enjoyed being filled in on the mysteries of this legend. Go Maniac!
Professional Review
According to a
review on the Kirkus Reviews (1990) website:
An occasionally long-winded, but always affecting,
parable-like story about racism and ignorance. Jeffrey Magee is twice
homeless--once involuntarily, at age three, when his parents plunge with a
high-speed trolley off a bridge; the second time eight years later, when he
voluntarily leaves the troubled home of his aunt and uncle. Jeffrey's
subsequent yearlong flight generates a host of legends:, his sudden appearances
and astonishing athletic prowess earn him the name "Maniac," and his
just-as-sudden disappearances ensure his fame. Innocently, he crosses between
two strictly segregated parts of town, the white East End and the black West
End, making friends and enemies in both camps and managing to soften the lines
of segregation; later, he finds a new home in the West. If this is sometimes a
bit like a chalkboard lesson, it may be because racism is still a volatile
subject that is more comfortably dealt with in parable form. The metaphorical
style is a brave change from the realism of Spinelli's other books, while fans
of his earlier, tongue-in-cheek, streetwise tone will find it also an integral
part of this story--ballast for the mythic, shifting picture of Maniac's year
on the run. (para. 1)
Library
Uses
I think Maniac
Magee could be well-utilized for a program geared towards middle schoolers
or high schoolers. The program could be discussion-based, encouraging students
to talk about issues of race and segregation, using scenarios within the book
as discussion starters. Students would be encouraged to read the book
beforehand. However, students would still be welcome to attend if they hadn’t;
the audiobook version of Maniac Magee could
be used during the program to highlight certain excerpts. The students could
listen to a segment and then respond with a discussion. Such a program could be
held during the month of January, sometime around Martin Luther King, Jr. Day,
which would be further encouragement to discuss civil rights and issues of
racial segregation. This book could also be featured on book displays in the
Library that included award-winners.
References
[Review of the book Maniac
Magee, by J. Spinelli]. (1990, March 15). Kirkus Reviews.
Retrieved from www.kirkusreviews.com
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