Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

Maniac Magee : a novel. by Jerry Spinelli. Little, Brown, 1990. 184 pages.

Plot: Jeffrey Lionel Magee was orphaned at age three when his parents died in a trolley accident. Then began eight years of living with an aunt and uncle in Pennsylvania. It was like living with zombies and Jeffrey couldn’t take it anymore. He stopped in the middle of a school performance jumped off the stage and ran.  He kept running and never came back.  This was the beginning of the legend of Maniac Magee. The legend grew as maniac performed unbelievable feats of courage and athleticism. He saves a boy from Finsterwald’s backyard, a place more dreaded than a graveyard at midnight. He hits home runs off of the biggest baddest little league pitcher who holds the record for strikeouts. He beats “Mars Bar” Thompson in a foot race -running backwards!  All the while, Maniac is moving between the white West end and black East end - two extremely racially segregated parts of town. He is homeless. He finds kindness and compassion among the people of both sides of town. He finds hatred and intolerance as well. Although Maniac is “color blind” when it comes to people, the characters he encounters are not so easily swayed - they see color first.  Maniac moves with grace through shelter in homes on both sides of town, at a zoo or in a park, but never having a home.  Is this the way it ends?

Review/Personal thoughts:  I became a fan of Jerry Spinelli after reading Stargirl.  I am still a fan after reading Maniac Magee.  He seems to be able , through his characters, to strike a chord in my emotions that ultimately has me always pulling for the triumph of the human spirit.  I was especially moved by the scene where old man Grayson has just read The Little Engine That Could after Maniac taught him to read.  To acknowledge this triumph, Maniac gives him a big hug. He settles in for sleep and understands that “The blanket was there, but it was the boy’s embrace that covered and warmed him.”  I was “covered and warmed” by this story... perhaps you could be as well.

Genre: Fiction

Reading Level: 5.0 Interest level: Ages 8 to 15.

Awards: Newbery Medal/Honor 1991