Maniac Magee starts out in a place called Bridgeport. Jeffrey Lionel Magee used to have a normal life until the day his parents died in a car accident and rendered him an orphan. During the next eight years, Jeffrey lives with his Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. They dislike each other but, being strict Catholics, refused to divorce. After being literally split into two by his aunt and uncle, Jeffrey reaches the point where he can’t stand it anymore, he runs away. Jeffrey begins his search for a new home. He ran 200 miles for a year and eventually ends up in Two Mills, a town linked to Bridgeport. The first day he is in Two Mills, he makes several appearances. First, he speaks to a black girl named Amanda Beale. Amanda has a suitcase that he discovers is full of books. He borrows a book from her and promises to return it.
He makes several life changing scenes that day. Whenever anyone sees Jeffrey, he is running. He shows up at a football field, saves a boy in a “dangerous” house, eats in a house with 10 kids and bats in a baseball game. Stories begin to be made and he gets the nickname “Maniac Magee” because of all the amazing things he has done in the short time he has been in Two Mills.
Maniac soon realizes that Two Mills is separated into two parts—the East End is where the black people live and the West End is where the white people live, and the street down the middle is Hector Street. That day, he was chased by a bully, John McNab and his friends, the Cobras, then he runs into another bully named Mars Bars until he is saved by Amanda. After Amanda’s parents find out his home is the deer shed at the zoo, the Beales invites him to stay with them. After a year of running, he finally has a home with an address. Maniac is satisfied with his life. He fits in with the Beales just like he was born there but he does not notice the differences between the blacks and whites in this town, until the day an old black man calls him Whitey and tells him to go home. A couple days later when he realizes that staying at the Beales house was hurting them, Maniac runs away again.
Maniac is found, hungry, scraped up and dirty in the buffalo pen at the zoo by an old man named Grayson. Grayson takes him to the baseball equipment room in the band shell. He take cares of Maniac and lets him stay in the baseball room. Soon Grayson loves Maniac like a how a father would love his son and Maniac loves him back the same way. Maniac and Grayson are contented together and once again, Maniac has a home. Unfortunately five days after Christmas, Grayson dies in his sleep. Maniac is all alone again. To deal with his loneliness, Maniac runs away.
Miserable and lost, Maniac ends up at Valley Forge where he decides to die. He decides not to live with anyone else. The second night Maniac is there in a small cabin, two small boys show up, Piper and Russell McNab, brothers of big and mean John McNab. The young boys were running away from home. Maniac takes the boys back to the McNab house and ends up staying there. The house is dirty and messy. Maniac performs random sets of task to make Piper and Russell go to school. At the McNab house, the Cobras (John McNab’s group of friends) are building what they call a “pillbox” in the middle of the living room. The “pillbox” is a fort to protect themselves against blacks. John imagines blacks from the East End attacking the West End in the summer. The idea of the fortress against the black people makes Maniac feel prejudicial. Maniac leaves the McNabs, choosing to sleep in the park. He couldn’t stand what the McNabs were doing or the way they were thinking against the blacks.
After several encounters, Maniac and Mars Bar begin to run together in the mornings and learn to understand each other. In his own queer way, Maniac unites the blacks and whites to become one. Mars Bar and Amanda find Maniac in the buffalo pen at the zoo and force him to come home. Maniac says yes and finally feels that he has a place he can call home.
I think the book Maniac Magee is a great book with unique characters such as my favorite character, Amanda Beale. I like Amanda because she is not prejudicial and is helpful and kind. She understands Maniac and becomes a good friend by offering her house and family. Maniac also makes a strong influence on several characters in the book. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read an exciting realistic fiction book. I think the author Jerry Spinelli did a really good job explaining something about prejudice which was the main theme of the book. At the same time, the author made the book very enjoyable to read. I really had fun reading Maniac Magee. In fact, this is one of the best books I’ve ever read. Overall on a scale of one to ten on how good this book was, I would rate it a 9.
