Maniac Magee

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Summary: Going Going Gone
Review: I think the book Maniac Magee was the best. The main character is Jeffery Magee or Maniac. The author of this book is Jerry Spinelli. This setting takes place in Two Mills Pennsylvania. The problem of the novel is that Maniac's parents die on a train.
The first event that happened in the book was that his parents died in the famous train crash. The second event was that he had to live with his aunt and uncle. Also, the third event was when Maniac ran 200 miles to Two Mills, Pennsylvania. Then the fourth event was when he saw Amanda going to school. Next, Amanda gave Maniac him the book to read. After, Amanda brought him to her house. Also, in the seventh event Amanda's mom was scrubbing on the porch. Finally, in the eighth event was when Maniac saw Amanda's brother and sister Hester and Lester when they went inside.
I would recommend this book for people who like a lot of adventures. This book is for ages 8-12. What I disliked about the book was when Grayson died. What I liked about the book is that it shows friendship and helps people who are running away and need shelter.

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Summary: Maniac Magee
Review: Jeffery "Maniac" Magee's parents died he ran away from his aunt and uncle. Now he is homeless. Maniac Mmagee maves in with the Beales, a black family at a time when blacks and whites were segregated. Someone writes "fishbelly" on the Beale house so Maniac decides its time to leave. He then lives in the buffalo pen in the local zoo until he is discovered by a man named Grayson. Grayson gives Maniac food, shelter, and love. it doesn't work out with Grayson so Maniac finds a home with his enemy John McNab. It eventually works out for Jeffery "Maniac" Magee. This book would be best for older elementary to middle school students.
Maniac Magee ia a non-fiction book. This book has happy, sad, and even touching parts to it. hester and Lester can really get your sides hurting while the bond between grayson and Maniac will touch your heart forever. Maniac was very popular in both the east (black community) and west (white community)ends. A popular jump rope chant with little girls is " Maniac Maniac he's so cool Maniac Manic don't go to school runs all night runs all right Maniac Maniac kissed a bull."You will follow Maniac through his brave rescues and daring adventures. Fourth through eighth graders would most aprecciate this book.
This book will appeal to older kids because of the heroic adventures and simple tasks like untieing knots. This book does have some profanity.
Jerry Spinelli is an effective writer. His book is filled with emotion. It is not a factual book.
Most people who enjoy emotioal books with happy and sad parts will love Mania Magee.

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Summary: a helper
Review: maniac magee
a poor kid that lost his parents in a train crash and then he went with his uncle and then after

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Summary: Maniac Magee...zooooom!
Review: Maniac Magee
By Jerry Spinelli
Historical fiction/ fiction

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli, is an outstanding book! It is about a kid-Jeffrey Magee- who lives with his aunt and uncle because his parents died... Jeffrey's uncle and aunt always fight! The child runs away.

Jeffrey crosses the white line in the middle of the road of a town he wasn't sure of. After crossing it...boy, was he in trouble! Crossing to the East End of the town- where the "black" people live- was partially why Jeffrey Magee was named Maniac.
Read the book to find out the trouble Jeffrey causes and gets into!

Maniac Magee can untie any knot and run verrrrry fast. He goes on the East End, when he's supposed to be on the west End- where the "white" people live. Wow! He IS a "maniac" !

I would recommend this book to any one who likes Jerry Spinelli- a great kid's author- or even to anyone who has never even heard of him! Maniac Magee, along with Wringer and The Library Card, have emotional things in them- wheather the emotions are sad, happy, funny or angry. Go on, now! Go read the John Newberry Medal book, Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli!

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Summary: Maniac Magee
Review: 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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Summary: maniac magee
Review: I enjoyed this book because it was detailed in telling almost everything about Maniac, the main character and how his parents passed away. It was also interesting because Maniac was able to survive alone, make friends with everyone, and able to do amazing things like untie any knot he came across.
This book is about a boy named Jeffery Magee whose parents died on a train that fell through the tracks. He was sent to live with his aunt and uncle who hated each other but wouldn't divorce because they are strict Catholics. One day Jeffery decided that he couldn't take living with them anymore so he ran away. On his journey, he lived in both black and white neighborhoods. He did some unique things that eventually made him famous and since most people didn't know his name, so they made up a new one for him, Maniac Magee.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a book that will really explain itself and to anyone who likes a surprise ending that you would hardly ever expect

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Summary: Boring and Long
Review: This book to me was very boring it just went on and on. Never ending. I think that unless you like rather depressing stories you won't like this book. I read this book when i was in 5th grade and it did not appeal to me. Its very strange; you keep switching from one place to another. I had trouble keeping all the characters in order. I kept mixing up the charcters; is what i'm trying to say. MOst people like it but i found it extremely boring.

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Summary: Kid helping racism
Review: A kid trying to find a home. A kid name Jeffrey Lionel Magee but then given the nickname [Maniac Magee] a [white kid ] is in search for a family and a home after living his uncle Dan and aunt Dot. Maniac againts racims and ran 200 miles to the east end were theres no whites only blacks. Thats were he meets a girl name Amanda a [black girl] who invites Maniac to live with the Beales. But then there was a writing on a wall saying ishbelly go home so maniac

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Summary: He's a maniac, maniac on the floor. And he's dancing...
Review: I sort of lump Jerry Spinelli and Kate DiCamillo into the same category. Though Spinelli has always been more prolific than DiCamillo (partly because he's been working longer), both authors create similar upbeat-but-acknowledge-the-world's-problems type children's books. And people love Spinelli and DiCamillo. Love them because they want to feel that these books really capture the unattainable good within the bad that is so very hard to write about. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of DiCamillo, and Spinelli's "Stargirl" left me kinda cold. So I picked up "Maniac Magee" with a kind of vain hope. Maybe this book would be better than I'd expected. Maybe it wouldn't drown the darker elements of life and society in the ooey-gooey syrup of a "Full House" episode. Maybe, in fact, this would be a great book. And you know what? It kind of is.

This is a tall tale. The awesome story of Maniac Magee. He was the fastest, smartest, coolest kid you'd ever meet. He could untie any knot you handed him, and outrun anyone you could name. He was tough and funny and never went to school. He was a living legend in his day and was colorblind as they come. When Maniac Magee moves into the black side of town, his appearance there and subsequent actions trip off a series of events that lead, if not to greater understanding between townspeople, then to a lessening of prejudices.

This is what I liked about "Maniac Magee". I liked that this book didn't end with Maniac ala Keesha Knight Pullman in "Polly" destroying the barriers between the white side and the black side of town single-handedly. I liked that he didn't destroy racism itself and that the ending of the book, rather than clearing up the town's problems, cleared up Maniac's problems. I liked that he had problems in the first place and that though he was an extraordinary human being, he made mistakes. I liked Mars Bar Thompson, a boy that is, in a way, a tall tale of his own and Maniac's worthy rival. I liked all these things, and more. I liked the story itself. It knew where to draw the line, how much to say, and how much to leave unsaid.

This is what I didn't like about "Maniac Magee". I didn't like that the book never really explained why the blacks hated the whites so much. Once in a while a black character would get angry at Maniac's appearance on the wrong side of town and yell at him things like, "Never enough, is it, Whitey? Just want more and more. Won't even leave us our little water in the street". The man who says these things to Maniac has obviously suffered heartily at the hands of whites in the past, but Spinelli paints the character as more of a crazy aberration representing a minority opinion. He doesn't explain WHY the African Americans wouldn't want a white person amongst them, and kids reading this might just think the guy was mean or unbalanced. To read this book is to already understand the underpinnings of racism. Otherwise, you might get a little bent out of shape reading a story in which a white kid beats a black one so badly that the white kid is able to run backwards over the finish line, effectively humiliating his black opponent.

There are things to love and dislike about "Maniac Magee". All in all, I found it fairly strong. The tall tale aspect of the storytelling, the rhythmic rise and fall of the action and words, and the book's telling conclusion all make it a rather good piece of writing. It's not as neatly tied up as much as it could be at the end, and that's just fine. Though I might not have handed it a Newbery award, it's well worth perusing and deserves to be on every child's reading list for a long long time.

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Summary: This book is fabulous.
Review: 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).