Maniac Magee
Encyclopedia
Maniac Magee is a young adult fiction novel written by American author Jerry Spinelli
Jerry Spinelli
Jerry Spinelli is an author of children's novels on adolescence and early adulthood. He is best known for the novels Maniac Magee and Wringer....

 and published in 1990. Exploring themes of racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...

 and homelessness
Homelessness
Homelessness describes the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are unable or unwilling to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence." The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country...

, it follows the story of an orphaned boy looking for a home in the fictional Pennsylvania town of Two Mills. He becomes a local legend for feats of athleticism and fearlessness, and his ignorance of sharp racial boundaries in the town. The book is popular in elementary school curricula, and has been used in scholarly studies on the relationship of children to racial identity and reading. A film adaptation
Maniac Magee (film)
Maniac Magee is a 2003 television film made for the Nickelodeon network, based on the book about 12-year-old Jeffrey Lionel "Maniac" Magee, an orphaned runaway with many extraordinary and athletic talents, who arrives in a town divided with racial conflict....

 of Maniac Magee was released in 2003.

Plot

Jeffrey Lionel Magee's parents were in a trolley when a drunk driver crashed and sunk the trolley into the Schuylkill River in Bridgeport, PA
Bridgeport, Pennsylvania
Bridgeport is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 18 miles north of Philadelphia on the Schuylkill River. The old-time industries were paper, flour, cotton, and woolen mills, steel works, brickyards, etc. Bridgeport is six miles east of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania...

, orphaning him at age three. After living with his Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan in another town and enduring their mutual hatred and silence, he runs away during a school musical performance. One year (The Lost Year) and 200 miles later, Jeffrey finds himself across the river from Bridgeport in Two Mills, PA, where Hector Street sharply divides black East Enders from white West Enders.

He meets Amanda Beale, an East Ender who carries her library of random books in a suitcase, and he borrows a book before continuing his dash through town. Along the way, he intercepts a football pass made to local football star James "Hands" Down, infuriates gigantic little-leaguer John McNab by hitting home runs off his fastball, and saves an unlucky child from Finsterwald’s back yard. The Finsterwald house is a house dreaded by everyone and has a bad reputation. Because of these acts, he earned the nickname "Maniac" and started a local legend.

When bully East Ender "Mars Bar" Thompson corners Maniac and rips a page from Amanda's book, Maniac is rescued by Amanda herself, who takes him home to her chaotic but loving household. Maniac finds a temporary home there, helping Mr. and Mrs. Beale with the chores and pacifying their youngest children, Hester and Lester. Soon though, a few East End residents make it clear that they don't want him in the East End anymore by writing racist graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....

 on the Beale's garage door. His final effort to gain acceptance is by untying the famous Cobble’s Knot (a huge, grimy ball of string with a year's supply of pizza waiting for its vanquisher.) After finishing the task he is praised by everyone as confetti is thrown into the air. Amanda Beale realizes, too late, that the confetti was made from the pages of her favorite book. Maniac runs away again so he won't hurt the Beales anymore. He takes shelter in the buffalo pen at the zoo and occasionally eats with the Pickwells—West Enders who provide spaghetti dinners for anyone who shows up at their dinner table.

At the zoo, Maniac meets Earl Grayson, a washed up minor-league baseball pitcher who turns out to be groundskeeper in the future , who hasn't ever learned to read, and who insists he has no stories. For a few months Jeffrey has a home again with Grayson, helping at work, celebrating holidays, and teaching Grayson to read. When Grayson dies in his sleep, Maniac wanders off aimlessly.

On the verge of frozen starvation he encounters Piper and Russell, child-ruffians who are running away to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, and who turn out to be John McNab's brothers. Maniac leads them back home, bribing them with free pizza, and stays at their cockroach-infested, decrepit house. Here, Maniac finds the worst that the West End has to offer as he learns that the McNab's are making a bunker because they believe the East End is planning a rebellion
Rebellion
Rebellion, uprising or insurrection, is a refusal of obedience or order. It may, therefore, be seen as encompassing a range of behaviors aimed at destroying or replacing an established authority such as a government or a head of state...

. He endures the coarseness and squalor of the McNab home in hopes of keeping Piper and Russell in school and under control, but eventually gives up.

After beating Mars Bar in a foot race (running backward) and goading him into crashing a birthday party at the McNab's, Maniac is homeless again. He moves back into the buffalo pen, and runs for miles every morning before Two Mills wakes up. Before long, Mars Bar starts running with him as if by coincidence, and the two never say a word to each other. One day they come across a hysterical Piper McNab, who frantically leads them to Russell, stuck on the trolley trestle where Jeffrey's parents died. Maniac walks away silently, nearly unconscious and stunned by fear, while Mars Bar rescues Russell, becoming a hero in the child’s eyes. Maniac retreats to the buffalo pen, where Mars Bar leads Amanda Beale to persuade Maniac once and for all to come live with her family again.

Major characters

  • Jeffrey Lionel "Maniac" Magee is the book’s protagonist
    Protagonist
    A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...

     and titular character. Jeffrey is orphan
    Orphan
    An orphan is a child permanently bereaved of or abandoned by his or her parents. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents is called an orphan...

    ed and finds himself in Two Mills, where he becomes a local legend while trying to find a home. He has astonishing athletic abilities, runs everywhere he goes, can untie any knot, is allergic
    Allergy
    An Allergy is a hypersensitivity disorder of the immune system. Allergic reactions occur when a person's immune system reacts to normally harmless substances in the environment. A substance that causes a reaction is called an allergen. These reactions are acquired, predictable, and rapid...

     to pizza, and crosses the barrier between East End and West End as if blind to racial distinction.
  • Amanda Beale is the first person Maniac meets in Two Mills. Amanda carries her library in a suitcase so her books aren't ruined by her younger siblings, Hester and Lester. She defends Maniac (whom she always calls Jeffrey) from Mars Bar the bully, and eventually provides him with a home.
  • Mars Bar Thompson the "baddest" kid in the East End and antagonist
    Antagonist
    An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...

     to Maniac. He resents Maniac's presence in the East End, which is exacerbated when Maniac beats him in a race. Mars Bar eventually rescues Russell McNab from the trolley truss, and offers Maniac a place to stay for a while.
  • John McNab is infuriated when he can’t strike out Maniac with his fastball
    Fastball
    The fastball is the most common type of pitch in baseball. Some "power pitchers," such as Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, have thrown it at speeds of 95–106 mph and up to 108.1 mph , relying purely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit...

    . After acting as a bully, he welcomes Maniac into his home when Maniac brings back John's younger brothers Piper and Russell after their attempt to run away to Mexico. He remains convinced that the black East Enders are planning a rebellion.
  • Piper and Russell McNab are younger brothers of John McNab who play hookey, steal, and constantly try to run away from home. In their house, they use toy machine guns to shoot the "rebels" from the East End.
  • Earl Grayson is the groundskeeper at the zoo and resident of the YMCA, though he was once a minor league baseball pitcher who struck out Willie Mays
    Willie Mays
    Willie Howard Mays, Jr. is a retired American professional baseball player who played the majority of his major league career with the New York and San Francisco Giants before finishing with the New York Mets. Nicknamed The Say Hey Kid, Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, his...

    . He becomes friends with Maniac, who listens to his stories and teaches him to read.
  • Mrs. Beale is the kind and caring mother of Amanda, Hester, and Lester. She is very sweet and thoughtful to Maniac as well.
  • Hester and Lester are the brother and sister of Amanda Beale and the son and daughter of Mrs. Beale. They are very hyper and will mess anything that they can get their hands on.

Themes

Jeffrey Lionel Magee struggles to find identity throughout the story, even as he grows into a legend as Maniac Magee. The standard identifiers of name, race and place of residence seem not to apply permanently to him.

Maniac insists to anyone who asks that his name is Jeffrey, since he was afraid of losing his name, and with it the only thing he had left from his mother and father. Mrs. Beale assures him that "You'll be nothing but Jeffrey in here. But … out there, I don’t know.". The theme of names and nicknames is extended with Mars Bar, whose moniker stems from the candy bars he constantly eats, and whose fame has spread across both Ends of town.

Race and racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...

 play a prominent role in the story, with Maniac drawn as a neutral observer with the inability to see "black" and "white." He observes to himself that East Enders are "...gingersnap and light fudge and dark fudge and acorn and butter rum and cinnamon and burnt orange. But never licorice, which, to him, was real black.", and that he himself has "...at least seven shades of color right on his own skin, not one of them being what he would call white (except for his eyeballs, which weren't any whiter than the eyeballs of the kids in the East End)". During a summer block party, an old East Ender complains to Maniac, "You got your own kind. It’s how you wanted it. Let’s keep it that way. NOW MOVE ON. Your kind’s waitin' up there [West End]!"

Homes and homelessness
Homelessness
Homelessness describes the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are unable or unwilling to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence." The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country...

 are consistent themes in the novel. At Grayson's house, Maniac is comforted by having an address, and he later paints a "one oh one" (101) on the bandshell for the same purpose. Jeffrey even finds a home in the buffalo pen, where he shows affection to the buffalo calf and its mother, who show concern in return.

Two Mills and Norristown

The imaginary town of Two Mills is based on Jerry Spinelli’s childhood town of Norristown, PA. Spinelli has said that material from the story was inspired by his childhood experiences there, and a number of geographical correspondences confirm this. Norristown, like Two Mills, is across the Schuylkill River
Schuylkill River
The Schuylkill River is a river in Pennsylvania. It is a designated Pennsylvania Scenic River.The river is about long. Its watershed of about lies entirely within the state of Pennsylvania. The source of its eastern branch is in the Appalachian Mountains at Tuscarora Springs, near Tamaqua in...

 from Bridgeport
Bridgeport, Pennsylvania
Bridgeport is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 18 miles north of Philadelphia on the Schuylkill River. The old-time industries were paper, flour, cotton, and woolen mills, steel works, brickyards, etc. Bridgeport is six miles east of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania...

, and neighboring towns include Conshohocken, Jeffersonville and Worcester, all of which are mentioned in the novel. In fact, Conshohocken has a Hector street, which historically served as a boundary between African American and White residents. The Elmwood Park Zoo
Elmwood Park Zoo
The Elmwood Park Zoo is a zoo in Norristown, Pennsylvania that houses a collection of over 300 animals representing 100 species. Opened on July 4, 1924, the zoo includes the Andrew L. Lewis Wetlands Aviary, The Bayou, and the Grasslands Exhibit. The zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and...

 is in Norristown, and Valley Forge
Valley Forge
Valley Forge in Pennsylvania was the site of the military camp of the American Continental Army over the winter of 1777–1778 in the American Revolutionary War.-History:...

, where Maniac wanders, is nearby as well.

Critical reviews

Maniac Magee was well-received upon publication, variously lauded in reviews as "always affecting," having "broad appeal," and being full of "pathos and compassion." Booklist
Booklist
Booklist is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. It is geared toward libraries and booksellers and is available in print or online...

 reviewer Deborah Abbot says, "...this unusual novel magically weaves timely issues of homelessness, racial prejudice, and illiteracy into a complicated story rich in characters and details...an energetic piece of writing that bursts with creativity, enthusiasm, and hope."

Reviewers noted that the theme of racism was uncommon for "middle readers". Criticism concentrated on Spinelli's choice of framing the novel as a legend, which Shoemaker calls a "cop-out," which frees him from having to make it real or possible. It has also been called "long-winded," and seeming like a "chalkboard lesson."

Awards and honors

  • 1990: Boston Globe/Horn Book Award

  • 1991: Carolyn Field Award, Newbery Medal
    Newbery Medal
    The John Newbery Medal is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association . The award is given to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The award has been given since 1922. ...

     (American Library Association)

  • 1992: Charlotte Award, Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, Flicker Tale Award, Indian Paintbrush Book Award
    Indian Paintbrush Book Award
    The Indian Paintbrush Book Award is an award given annually to books nominated and voted on by children in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades in Wyoming. The award was first given in 1986...

    , Rhode Island Children's Book Award

  • 1993: Buckeye Children's Book Award, Land of Enchantment Award, Mark Twain Award, Massachusetts Children's Book Award
    Massachusetts Children's Book Award
    The Massachusetts Children's Book Award was established as a program to encourage children to read. The children themselves vote for the book they think deserves to be named the book of the year....

    , Nevada Young Readers' Award, Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader's Choice Award
    Young Reader's Choice Award
    The Young Reader's Choice Award is an annual book award chosen by students from the Pacific Northwest. It is run by the Pacific Northwest Library Association, and was established in 1940, making it the oldest children's choice award in the U.S. and Canada....

    , Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award
    Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award
    The Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award is a program sponsored by the Illinois Association of Teachers of English, the Illinois Reading Council, and the Illinois School Library Media Association. The award has been granted annually since 1988...

    , West Virginia Children's Book Award, William Allen White Award

Use in education and research

Maniac Magee is popular in elementary school curricula. Many study units and teaching guides are available, including a study guide by the author. The novel has been used as a tool in scholarly work on childhood education and development. Fondrie cites it as an example in a discussion of how to bring up and discuss issues of race and class among young students. McGinley and Kamberlis use it in a study of how children use reading and writing as “vehicles for personal, social, and political exploration.” Along the same lines, Lehr and Thompson examine classroom discussions as a reflection of the teacher’s role as cultural mediator and the response of children to moral dilemmas, and Enciso studies expressions of social identity in the responses of children to Maniac Magee.

In a less pedagogical vein, Roberts uses the character of Amanda Beale as an archetypical "female rescuer" in a study of Newbery books, and Sullivan suggests the book as being useful in discussions of reading attitudes and difficulties.

Adaptations

Maniac Magee was adapted as an audiobook by Listening Library in 2005 (ISBN 0307243188) and as a TV movie
Maniac Magee (film)
Maniac Magee is a 2003 television film made for the Nickelodeon network, based on the book about 12-year-old Jeffrey Lionel "Maniac" Magee, an orphaned runaway with many extraordinary and athletic talents, who arrives in a town divided with racial conflict....

 in 2003, which was nominated for the Humanitas prize
Humanitas Prize
The Humanitas Prize is an award for film and television writing intended to promote human dignity, meaning, and freedom. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser — also the founder of Paulist Productions — but is generally not seen as specifically directed toward religious...

in the children’s live action category.
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