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Maniac Magee
by Jerry Spinelli |
Maniac Magee is the tale of Jeffrey “Maniac” Magee who was orphaned at a young age after his parents his were killed in a train accident. He was sent to live with his Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan in the “house of two toasters.” The house is unbearable because Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan can’t stand each other and eventually stop speaking to each other. They also refuse to share their belongings with each other. Jeffrey becomes so distraught in this situation that he runs away in the middle of a school musical. He is on the road for a year and ends up in Two Mills, Pennsylvania.
Two Mills is a town that is racially segregated with black people living on the East side of Hector Street and white people living on the West side of Hector Street. On his way into town Jeffrey meets Amanda Beale and then proceeds to have a series of small adventures by accomplishing memorable feats that were otherwise thought to be impossible in the eyes of the town’s children. Because of his achievements, Jeffrey becomes a local legend and earns the nickname “Maniac.”
Maniac is oblivious to the pandemonium he is causing all around him and befriends all who he encounters, regardless of race. After rescuing Amanda from the local bully, he becomes the Beale’s houseguest and enjoys the time spent with a loving family. Unfortunately the Beales are an African American family and the other citizens of the East End do not approve of Maniac’s presence and make trouble for the Beales. Not wanting to cause any more trouble for the Beale family, Maniac runs away again. He ends up at the zoo where he meets Earl Grayson, the groundskeeper. Maniac and Grayson forge a strong friendship and Maniac begins to feel like he has found a home with Grayson, until Grayson dies in his sleep one night. Maniac is next housed by the McNabbs, in the worst of conditions. Mr. McNabb is somewhat crazy, if not only paranoid, about the East Enders planning an attack on the West Enders. Maniac stays with the McNabbs because he is concerned for Piper and Russell McNabb and tries to keep them going to school. Eventually Maniac becomes homeless again after bringing Mars Bars back to a party at the McNabbs.
Several weeks later Mars Bars ends up rescuing Russell McNabb from the train tracks and a truce of sorts begins to be forged between the East and West Ends. Amanda Beale is led to Maniac by Mars Bars and she convinces him to come back home to the Beale house where he belongs.
Spinelli, J. (1990). Maniac Magee: A novel. Boston, MA: Little, Brown.
My impressions:
I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the adventures of Maniac Magee. Jerry Spinelli does an artful job of tackling tough issues such as racism, segregation, and homelessness in a way that is approachable and appropriate for adolescent audiences. I love that Maniac gave no mind to the color of anyone’s skin, and treated everyone in the best way he could, no matter how ugly they were to him. The legacy that Maniac leaves behind on the town of Two Mills is an important theme throughout the book and would be an excellent discussion starter in a classroom.
Professional reviews:
Gr 6-10--Warning: this interesting book is a mythical story about racism. It should not be read as reality. Legend springs up about Jeffrey "Maniac" Magee, a white boy who runs faster and hits balls farther than anyone, who lives on his own with amazing grace, and is innocent as to racial affairs. After running away from a loveless home, he encounters several families, in and around TWo Mills, a town sharply divided into the black East End and the white West End. Black, feisty Amanda Beale and her family lovingly open their home to Maniac, and tough, smart-talking "Mars Bar" Thompson and other characters are all, to varying degrees, full of prejudices and unaware of their own racism. Racial epithets are sprinkled throught the book; Mars Bar calls Maniac "fishbelly," and blacks are described by a white character as being "today's Indians." In the final, disjointed section of the book, Maniac confronts the hatred that perpetuates ignorance by bringing Mars Bar to meet the Pickwells--"the best the West End had to offer." In the feel-good ending, Mars and Maniac resolve their differences; Maniac gets a home and there is hope for at least improved racial relations. Unreal.? Yes. It' s a cop-out for Spinelli to have framed this story as a legend--it frees him from having to make it real, or even possible. Nevertheless, the book will stimulate thinking about racism, and it might help educate those readers who, like so many students, have no first-hand knowledge of people of other races. Pathos and compassion inform a short, relatively easy-to-read story with broad appeal, which suggests that to solve problems of racism, people must first know each other as individuals.
Shoemaker, J. (1990, June). [Review of the book Maniac Magee, by J. Spinelli]. School Library Journal
36(6), 138. Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com
In this modern-day tall tale, Spinelli (Dump Days; Jason and Marceline) presents a humorous yet poignant look at the issue of race relations, a rare topic for a work aimed at middle readers. Orphaned as an infant, Jerry Magee is reared by his feuding aunt and uncle until he runs away at age eight. He finds his way to Two Mills, Pa., where the legend of "Maniac" Magee begins after he scores major upsets against Brian Denehy, the star high school football player, and Little League tough guy, John McNab. In racially divided Two Mills, the Beales, a black family, take Maniac in, but despite his local fame, community pressure forces him out and he returns to living at the zoo. Park groundskeeper Grayson next cares for the boy, but the old man dies and Maniac moves into the squalid home of the McNabs, who are convinced a race war is imminent. After a showdown with his nemesis, Mars Bar, Maniac bridges the gap between the two sides of town and finally finds a home. full of snappy street-talk cadences, this off-the-wall yarn will give readers of all colors plenty of food for thought.
Donahue, R. & Roback, D. (1990, May 11). [Review of the book, Maniac Magee, by J. Spinelli]. Publishers
Weekly 237(19), 260. Retrieved from http://www.publishersweekly.com
Library Uses:
A school librarian should promote this novel to faculty members as an excellent choice for a class study. Themes to discuss throughout the novel study could include racism, segregation, and homelessness. Students could define what makes a house a home to them - is it the physical location, the people, or the feelings and then discuss Maniac’s search for a place to call home and if he was successful at the end of the novel in finding that. Students could also be prompted to keep a journal written as Maniac recording in first person all of his amazing feats (untying Cobble’s Knot, running on the rails, rescuing a boy from Finsterwald’s back yard) and his thoughts as he lives with the Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan, the Beales, Grayson, and the McNabbs.The librarian could order supplemental activities and additional resources to include information about segregation in the US in the 1960s and create a kit for this novel to be checked out by teachers.
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