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Title: Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli ISBN: 0-316-80906-3 Publisher: Little Brown & Company Pub. Date: 01 November, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.06 (499 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Critical Reflection
Comment: Jerry Spinelli's, Maniac Magee, is the tale of a boy named Jeffrey Lionel Magee, who loses his parents at the age of three and is forced to live with his aunt and uncle. Jeffrey after eight years of living with his aunt and uncle gets fed up with how they are "separated," but still together and decides to runaway. He ends up two-hundred miles away in a little town called Two-Mills, where the whites and blacks are divided into the West End (whites), and the East End (blacks). Jeffrey embarks on the journey of a lifetime and learns many life lessons from all those that he encounters and becomes a town legend, earning the nickname, "maniac", in the process. Throughout the story Jeffrey does not have a stable place to live, he moves around through the whole story. With this idea in mind one is lead to believe that having a home and family is the center focus of this book, as you read in to the second chapter you realize that there is also another focus, racism. Not much is mentioned of Jeffrey's biological parents except when the author gives details of how they were killed, but you can tell that Jeffrey wanted a place to call home, and he did not know when he found a home and a family, how to deal with the fact that he was of a different color. Home, the one thing that Jeffrey so desperately wanted seemed to dwindle away every time he came close to keeping it. At eleven he could no longer bear living with his aunt and uncle who for eight years lived as a separated married couple. They had two of everything. So when he ran away he was in search of a new life, a whole new family. He ran away, two-hundred miles away to the town of Two-Mills, where he ended up with the Beale family. He felt love and a distinct feeling of home there, and he had a address now, which to him meant he had a permanent home. But something stood in the way of this loving home and new address, his color. He never really noticed that the entire town was divided into East End and West End, until he went out to play as any child would. This went on for months and months, until one day an old man told him to go back to his kind. So for the first time Jeffrey "Maniac" Magee realized that he was very different from the people in which he called his family were. This is explained thoroughly by Jean Baudrilland, from the Lion and the Unicorn (21.2 (1997) 215-229, she calls this personal discovery. This "personal discovery" she talks about is realized when Jeffrey recognizes that the people one the East End of Two-Mills hated him not because he was good at everything he did, but because of the fact that his skin color was different from the people that lived on that end. He loved the Beale family but could not see them terrorized because he was living with them, and once again he left becoming amongst the homeless again. His next "home" came when he met an elderly man by the name of Grayson, who lived in the baseball basement. They became real good friends and Jeffrey felt like he had a home again, when he put the numbers "1-0-1" on the basement door. Signifying that he again had a place to call home. That ended abruptly with the death of his longtime friend, so he was once again thrust back into society as homeless. But in the end he realized that he never should have left the first true home he had with the Beales, and so that is how the story ended with him being content that this was where he was supposed to be.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Boy of Many Feats
Comment: Running short of books to read? You're looking for a good to read? Well look no further because Maniac Magee, by Jerry Spinelli, is waiting for you. Jeffrey Lionel Magee, AKA Maniac, is just a twelve year old, scruffy, orphaned boy but as soon as he sets foot in Two Mills, Pennsylvania a legend is born. He's as fast as sound: bunting a frog for a homerun, scoring 49 touchdowns in one day, and beating a kid running backwards and the kid was running forwards. Unfortunutly, Two Mills is split into two ends, with Whites on the West End and Blacks on the East End but does Maniac know about the difference between skin colors? No he doesn't.
There are many events that take place in the story to move along. First, Maniac's (then Jeffrey) parents die in a famous trolley crash. Then, he goes to live with his Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan who hate each other. After that he runs away at a chorus recital and isn't seen for a year. Next, he wanders into Two Mills and makes 4 appearances that day, also getting the nickname Maniac. Next, he starts to live at the Beales. Then he leaves the Beales and runs away to the zoo. Then, he is found by an old man,Grayson, who lets Maniac stay with him. After that, Grayson died. Maniac runs away to Valley Forge waiting for death. Then he meets Russell and Piper McNab, who invite him to their run-down house which will later be turned into a pillbox. After that, he provoaks Russell and Piper to stay in school by doing "heoric" feats. After that, Maniac doesn't stay in one set place and starts goes all over. Finally, Maniac stays with the Beales forever. Those are some important events in Maniac Magee.
Many people have different opinions about Maniac Magee. I believe this is an excellant book, everything clearly stated. I would recommend it to kids who are in thier seventh month of fourth grade through their fifth grade. I liked everything about this book except one thing which is the way the McNabs' house is described with roaches and things like that. This book truly deserves its five stars.
Rating: 4
Summary: Maniac Magee
Comment: A very good book for young readers. It captures your imagination and is very intersesting and i enjoyed it all the way through the book. I strongly advise you to read this book. It has a good message to about racism. I hope you read this book and i hope you enjoy iy
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