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Maniac Magee
written by Jerry Spinelli
Studio : Little, Brown Young Readers
by Little, Brown Young Readers
Brand : INGRAM BOOK & DISTRIBUTOR
Publisher : Little, Brown Young Readers
Released : 1999-11-01
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 9780316809061
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 714 reviews)
List Price : $6.99
Our Price : $2.89
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Made with the Best Quality Material with your child in mind.
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Top Quality Children's Item.
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Product Description |
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After his parents die, Jeffrey Lionel Magee's life becomes legendary as he accomplishes athletic feats and other extraordinary exploits that awe his contemporaries. Paperback. |
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Americancivilwar.com Review |
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Maniac Magee is a folk story about a boy, a very excitable boy. One that can outrun dogs, hit a home run off the best pitcher in the neighborhood, tie a knot no one can undo. "Kid's gotta be a maniac," is what the folks in Two Mills say. It's also the story of how this boy, Jeffrey Lionel "Maniac" Magee, confronts racism in a small town, tries to find a home where there is none and attempts to soothe tensions between rival factions on the tough side of town. Presented as a folk tale, it's the stuff of storytelling. "The history of a kid," says Jerry Spinelli, "is one part fact, two parts legend, and three parts snowball." And for this kid, four parts of fun. Maniac Magee won the 1991 Newbery Medal. |
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Timeless mix of tall-tale and heart |
I've been passionately in love with this book since the 4th grade. I think it is one of the best children's books ever written, in the many themes it explores.
Heck, you have to give the author credit for writing such an ordinary story in a style usually reserved for legends. For that's what this becomes, an urban legend, a tall tale, of a boy who is simply an ordinary boy. It's real and touching even as it goes over the line to the roll-your-eyes fantastic.
Even as Maniac Magee impresses the locals with his small-time wonders, he is a very real boy with very real emotions. No character in this book is made flat, and everyone is shown in multiple lights.
And yet it still manages to have simple, poignant riding that is easily understood, even if the themes are a little more complex.
One of the greatest books Spinelli has written or will ever write. |
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Maniac Magee |
Jeffery Magee is a twelve-year-old kid who's parents died in the famous P&W trolley crash. His aunt and Uncle can't agree on anything, not even Jeffery. When they come to the school choir concert they sit on opposite sides of the bleachers, at the end of the song Jeffery is screaming for them to talk. Then he starts running, away from school, away from his aunt and uncle, away from Holidaysburg. Into Two Mills.
Upon arriving in Two Mills Jeffery gets himself into the furious fight between blacks and whites. When he starts living with a family of blacks, the Beales, he finds himself in for alot of trouble, especially from Mars Bars Thompson. Eventually Jeffery, now Maniac Magee, ralizes the trouble he has caused and runs to East end, the white side of town. There he starts living with the Mcnabs, but soon sees that he's only causing trouble there too. In the end Maniac is living in a buffalo pen at the zoo when Amanda Beale and Mars Bars Thompson convince Maniac to live with them in West end, because they don't care if he's white, he is their friend.
Pg 182:
"Let's go."
"Where?"
"Home."
"Who's?"
"Mine. Yours. Ours. Come on, I'm sleepy"...
He knew that finally, truly, at long last, someone was calling him home.
I think this best examplifies the authors purpose in writing this book by saying that if you keep trying and don't give up you will be acceptted no matter what. Also that no matter how the world looks there is always someone who cares about you.
I think that this book is a great contribution to society. It teaches us that growing up can be hard, but there is always something good waiting for you on the other side. Also, it helps us understand that if we preservere we will always make it.
We will make it through life, good or bad, depending on our choices and I think that this book is a great example of that. overall this is a book that anyone who has questions about growing up should read. |
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A Classic, Worthy of Recognition |
I picked up this book back in 3rd grade, and it was the first book that got me in trouble for reading in class. I couldn't put it down. I must have read it once every six months back in elementary school. The story is great, the characters lovable...but the main draw is the ease to identify with the protagonist.
Every kid wants to be, or has felt like, Maniac Magee. I especially recommend this to kids with divorced or deceased parents. When I was little, this book inspired me, and I just know it will inspire generations to come. |
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Maniac Magee |
As with any book, there are people that LOVE this book and people who hate this book. Teachers are often critized for assigning books because they are on "some list" instead of assigning books students will actually read. I am a teacher. Let me assure you, that at least in my case, I did not choose to assign this book becuase it was on a list or it won an award. In fact I read this book after a student suggested I read it [I have a section where students can recommend books to other]. After reading the book, noticing it's content and genre I started asking around. I found that many 5th and 6th graders liked this book. This is what started our teachers to consider this book as assigned reading - not because it ended up on a list.
Critiques made by others:
1. Confusion
Some students have difficulty undertanding parts of the book. The book is very detailed which has different effects on different students. Some get confused and bored because of the details while others like the details because it helps them understand where Maniac is coming from. I start this book off talking about Tall tales and exaggeration. Then we read the intro which reads like a Tall-tale : "Some say...". This clear some of the confusion.
2. Language
I am VERY cautious of language. I get very frustrated when authors (be it books or screen plays) add in language. I think it takes more craft to allude to language without actually using it. I have read many reviews concerned with the language. I do not feel that this is a concern in this book. The book does mention trash-talking. And although there are some examples (very mild by any standard), the majority was alluded to ("they cursed" or "trash-talking" instead of using the actual words].
3. Racism
I noticed that a few people critized the author for making very racist statements when he described the different colors of black and white people. I think that these people read too much into this. I have friends of many different colors, countries, and cultures. We have had MANY discussions talking about our true colors. We laughed at the terms black and white, because they truly do not describe us.
Also, I know there is concern that the town is racist. Unfortunately, there are still places like this in the U.S. I have found that this has started some really good discussions in the classroom. |
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Maniacs are good friends |
After reading Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli, I have learned a lot about what it takes to be a good friend. I thought I had good friends before I read it. Friends are supposed to be people you can laugh with, remember forever, and trust enough to ask for a payday loan without any threat of interest. Spinelli produced in Jeffrey Magee a completely different kind of friend.
Maniac, as he came to be known by other characters in the book was homeless, needy, untrusting of most others, independent, and reclusive. He preferred running through town and sleeping with animals at the zoo to staying with his stiff, staunch, and insensitive foster parents. When he does run away, he finds himself in the same town his parents died. He discovers there the racial hate, socio-economic oppression, and disbelief in people he thought he had run away from. But he also discovered that the people there revered him as a legend.
Spinelli wastes no time complicating Magee's life. Soon after he runs away, Maniac is sought after by a neighborhood bully, ousted by racist adults, hunted by arrogant unsupervised white kids, and indebted to the first kind person he meets. Spinelli creates a lovelable boy, with many of the same characteristics as Tom Sawyer, and a lot of the same plights many of his readers recognize from experience. Only one thing makes Magee stand out from all the rest.
Magee is blessed with a shroud of heroism. In his own meandering and misanthropic way, Maniac saves a retired minor league pitcher from his lonliness, restores the legend of a fallen big brother, returns courage to a fearful bully and reaffirms a girls faith in humanity. He also teaches a town to accept differences on both sides of the track...in spite of color differences.
The novel is colored with humor, charm and sincerity. Spinelli seems to be unfolding real events on a neon canvas. So bright and amusing they can't possibly be real, these moments resonate with whispers of reality. Parts of Spinelli's childhood seep from the pages, touching the lives of all readers and embracing the childhood some have yet to leave behind.
Readability is enhanced by short fast paced chapters, a subtle thread of suspense and a genuine curiosity about what Maniac Magee will do next. No matter who reads this book, Magee is sure to run them down leaving their minds stamped with Jerry Spinelli's gifted writing.
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