Customer Reviews

Maniac Magee

5 star:		(348)
4 star:		(205)
3 star:		(86)
2 star:		(39)
1 star:		(53)

 

 

I picked Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli for my school book report because the cover looked interesting. It showed a picture of feet running. Inside the book jacket was a poem that read:
"Ma-niac, Ma-niac
He's so cool
Ma-niac, Ma-niac
Don't go to school
Runs all night
Runs all right
Ma-niac, Ma-niac
Kissed a bull."

It looked very interesting and funny. I really liked the book because the main character, Maniac Magee, was funny and smart and cared about and helped people. You really want him to be happy.

Maniac Magee (whose really name was Jeffrey) became a homeless kid who lost his parents in a trolley accident. He wants a real home with a family and that is what he looks for in the story. He's really unusual. He is famous for running everywhere. He's so fast no one can beat him. He's really good at sports. He even hit a "frog" ball and turned it into an inside the park homerun. He can untie very complicated knots. Little kids bring him all their troubles and he helps solve them. He wins a lifetime supply of pizza but he's allergic to pizza! Everyone loves him--well, almost everyone. That's what bothers him and keeps him running all night.
Maniac doesn't see any bad in people. He keeps thinking they're nice. But some are so mean that he finally figures out they don't like him. He blames himself. Maniac meets a girl, Amanda. She has lots of books and he really wants one. She lets him have one to read. When he returns it she invites him to live with her family in the East End. Only black people live there. Maniac doesn't see any difference between the black and white people. When he sees there are some who don't understand each other he tries to get them to like each other. But this doesn't happen very easily.

After Maniac runs away from Amanda's house, he lives with the buffalos at the park zoo. One day he meets Grayson who used to be a Minor league pitcher. Grayson and Maniac become really close like grandson and grandfather. They do everything together. You'll have to read what happens next. It's very emotional.
Maniac spends time with the McNabb family in the West End. This is where the white people live. When he's there he tries to bring the East End and West End kids together. One time it doesn't work. Another time it does work.
Maniac runs away from all of his temporary homes because he wants things to be perfect. He learns that not everything can be perfect. Does he find what he wants in the end? You'll have to read the book to find out.

If you liked Wringer or Space Station Seventh Grade, you'll like to read Maniac Magee. The story about a boy named Jeffery Lionel Magee [later called Maniac] whose parents died when a trolley fell off its track and plunged into the Schulkill River. Everyone on board drowned. Then Jeffery was sent to his aunt and uncle's house. He ran away because his aunt and uncle bickered a lot and he got sick of it. Then he travels 200 miles to Two Mills, Pennsylvania. He moves in with the Beales. A black family willing to take care of Jeffery. After running so fast, hitting the world's first "frogball", scoring 49 touchdowns when playing football with some high schoolers, Jeffery Magee's name was changed to Maniac Magee. Then Maniac moved around from house to house because he and Amanda Beale got into a fight. Then Maniac moves around from house to house in the East End to West End [in this book, blacks and whites are isolated. Blacks in the East End. Whites in the West End] My favorite part was when Russell and Piper tried to run away from home to Mexico, and Maniac tells them to stay home an extra week every week. This is a really good book. It is so good that there should be a movie retelling the story. Like The Indian in the Cupboard. I hope you will like it.

Maniac Magee was an outstanding book. It was one of the best books i have ever read. Maniac Magee's real name is Jeffery Lionel Magee. He is an 11 year old whose parents died on a trestle. So he had to go live with his aunt and uncle. He ran away from his aunt and uncles house because they were not getting along.
On his journey running he ran to a place called The Two Mills and he met a couple of kids. The first kid was Amanda. Maniac told Amanda about his parents and Amanda Beale invited Maniac to live with them. Maniac was so happy that he had an address now. You are probably wondering where he was sleeping before the Beale's let him live with them. Well i am not going to tell you, you are going to have to see for yourself.
The author that wrote this book is trying to teach us a lesson, to be friends with everyone no matter what color you are.
This author is an amazing writer, in his books there is a lot of humor, and at the same time there is a lot of sadness.
I would recommend this book to 10 year olds to 13 year olds because i am 11 and it really kept my attention.
My opinion of this book is that it was a marvelous book. One of my favorite parts was when he tired to get that enormous knot out of the rope.

In "Before the Story", an introduction to the novel, Jerry Spinelli writes, "What's true, what's myth? It's hard to know." Was Maniac Magee really a superhero in an urban legend of childhood--or was he just an extraordinary, though very human, young boy? Again, even to those who have read the story several times, it's hard to know. I doubt if Spinelli himelf knows the answer. During Part I, for example, Jeffrey/Maniac is a boy in Chapter I, a legend in Chapter II, a boy in Chapter III, a legend in Chapter IV . . . you get the idea.

Even the rest of the characters have that half-unbelievable, half-real quality about them, though not as powerfully. For instance, few people have ever known an Amanda Beale who carries her entire library to school everyday; but it is easy to believe that _someone_ like Amanda does exist . . . somewhere out there. And most kids could interview all the old parkhands in their states and probably not find one who has struck out Willie Mays, or any other major league baseball player, for that matter. Yet it is still easy to believe that the novel's Grayson has a real-life counterpart. Beginning with Chapter One, when the first strange characters, Uncle Dan and Aunt Dot, are introduced, readers may suspend their disbelief and experience one of the most wonderful adventures in modern children's literature.

I call it an adventure because, whether he or the readers know it or not, Jeffrey/Maniac is on a quest. He is looking for a place to call home, a place where he can be accepted and happy. Readers follow him from his first home in Bridgeport to his final home in a place-you-will-have-to-read-the-novel-to-know-about. This quest is not the only mythical element in this great novel: the hero also has several tasks to perform and dangers to brave before he achieves his dream. Along with all his "superpowers," he even has a "fatal flaw" to overcome: his naive nearsightedness when it comes to others.

Some of the tasks are as simple as undoing an impossible knot. Others are as "dangerous" as trying to make peace between blacks and whites in a neighborhood. Something else mythical is Maniac's experience in the West End, which can be called a "Descent into the Underworld". Like a modern Odysseus, he makes many educational stops on the way to his own special Ithaca. (The three parts of the book mark these stops.)

All of this is told in Jerry Spinelli's beautiful prose, which sometimes nearly becomes poetry. For example: "For most of November, winter toyed with Two Mills, whispered in its ear, tickled it under the chin. On Thanksgiving Thursday, winter kicked it in the stomach." At other times, the narrative seems to come straight out of a character's mind, with Spinelli taking on the voice of that character.

To top it all off, "Maniac Magee" has an excellent moral. (There are many little lessons scattered throughout the plot, but I will focus on the main one.) Interestingly, the novel does not make any fixed judgements on running away. First it seems to say that running away is not the answer and that homes must be worked on, as much as found. Then it reminds us that Jeffrey/Maniac would not have found his home had he not run away to look for it in the first place.

This story tugs at the heart and enriches the soul, but it also opens the mind.

LOOK OUT! Here comes the boy who loves to run: Maniac Magee his parents died in a car crash and now he lives with his aunt and uncle! One day when he went to his holiday concert with his aunt and uncle then they started making fun of him so he ran right out of that school and ran right down the street and kept running overnight until he reached a whole new town in the morning. When he walked around the next morning he came upon a girl he asked her name, it was Amanda Beale he started talking to her and asked her what was in her briefcase Amanda said it was full of books for school and he asked to see one do she gave him one and he asked to borrow it she said yes because she was late for school and Amanda Beale is never late for school. He stays at many more houses with some weird people to find out about those people read Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli.
In this book maniac comes across a lot of challenges he comes to beat. I would give this book (.....)I loved this book and I guarantee you will to! If you want to check out this book go to your local library and check this book out!

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.

I read Maniac Magee for the first time when I was ten years old. I was impressed then and and a decade later I am still impressed by this intelligent, poignant story. This book doesn't talk down to children and addresses some tough issues in a frank light. A must-have for any book-lovin' kid you know (or adult, for that matter).

Jeffrey Lionel Magee is an orphan from Bridgeport, Pennsylvania, whose parents were killed when he was three, as the trolley they were riding on plunged off the trestle-bridge over the Schuylkill River, crashing into the muddy waters below. Taken in by his aunt and uncle, Jeffrey grows tired of the spiteful silence and animosity in their home and decides to run. He runs, and he runs, and he runs: straight from his miserable existence in Hollidaysburg into legendary status as the celebrated "Maniac" Magee. His rubber-soled shoes, tattered from his 200-mile run, Jeffrey decides to spend some time in Two Mills, Pennsylvania, where his innocent and idealistic views of life draw a town split asunder by racism into a real community. Jeffrey is a tall-tale figure who, without effort, rivals Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, and John Henry at their best. MANIAC MAGEE is a wonderfully delicious and humorous story, and Jerry Spinelli's hero serves as an estimable role model for contemporary generations of adolescents and adults alike.

I think the book Maniac Magee is a great book by Jerry Spinell. He really explained alot of things in detail. It is a very funny and exciting book! I really liked the wayManaic Magee wasn't scared of anyone and he could make friends with anyone. My favorite part was when Manaic hit the frog fling home run. I think that the way people were willing to help manaic out and be there for him shows the good side of our world. Amanda was a great charctor because she was helpful in everyway. I know that this book shows how people can help each other and how the blacks and whites can work together. I would recommend this book to any one that might have probles with different colored skin that can understand how to work there prprobles out. Or to just a young teen that is looking for a good book to read. I know I love this bookbecause I have read it more than once and I hope you will too.

Maniac Magee is an excellent book for any young adult to read. It is about a boy named Jeffrey "Maniac" Magee, and his parents died so he was left on his own. He made a friend with a girl named Amanda Beal and stayed with her and her family. It wasn't predictable, so everything was a surprise to me. Because the book is about a boy that's around our age (maybe a little younger), it is easy for any young adult to relate to Maniac's thoughts. This immaginative story that kids can relate to has won the author many well deserved rewards. Maniac Magee is a very immaginative story, that led me to not want to put it down for a second. The detail made ot seem like it could have happened to you or someone close to you, even though some pretty crazy things happened. I beleive the starred booklist would agree with me, it raves "bursts with creativity, enthusiasm, and hope for a future; in short its a celebration of life". By reading this book you will feel like you have known Jeffrey "Maniac" Magee all of your life. If there is one thing about this book it is that it wasn't predictable, it waqs just one surprise after the next. The New York times claims "has the tone of a story that has come down through the years". One reader from Huston Texas responding to a review for Amazon.com rated the book on a sclae from 1-5 stars a 5. The attentive reader replies "fascinating story, beautifully crafted". I am not the only one who thinks this way tons of people have published reiviews regarding good things about it on Amazon.com. This book has also won many awards. One of which was waon back in 1991, it was the newberry Medal, which is a great honor for an author to win. According to Amazon.com the average costomer review was 4 1/2 stars out of a possible five. Many of the reivews on Maniac Magee that was submitted had four and five stars. Thst means that many people thought it was a great book. Despite all of the good reviws and things like that about the book, there are still reasons why you might not think this is a good book to read as a young adult. One of the readers from J.C. New York gave the book only a 3 star reiview. So you can always look at it from their point of view. The New York times says this book is mainly for kids ages 8 - 14, so if you are looking for a book that is at a higher age level you might want to reconsider about which book you read. But I don't think like that because this book was recommended to me last year by a friend who had read it and liked it. There are a lot of race issues in this book, so that might be a little offencive to people, and also it just shows how some people can be just becuase they don't like someone else's skin color. This is an excellent book for young adults to becuase it is immaginative , surprsing, won many awards and is about someone my age. I guarantee that if you read this book that you won't be dissapointed.