Maniac Magee

Maniac Magee

By Jerry Spinelli

Genre: Juvenile Fiction

Curriculum subjects: Teen Life: Family, Teen Life: Prejudice, Personal Development: Loss, Personal Development: Self-Discovery

Grade: 3-7

He wasn’t born with the name Maniac Magee. He came into this world named Jeffrey Lionel Magee, but when his parents died and his life changed, so did his name. And Maniac Magee became a legend. Even today kids talk about how fast he could run; how he hit an inside-the-park “frog” homer and how no knot, no matter how snarled, would stay that way once he began to untie it. Little girls jumping rope chant, “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!”

But the thing Maniac Magee is best known for is what he did for the kids from the East Side and those from the West Side. He was special all right, and this is his story, and it’s a story that is very careful not to let the facts get mixed up with the truth. 

PRAISE & ACCOLADES

Winner of the 1991 John Newbery Medal

“The metaphorical style is a brave change from the realism of Spinelli’s other books, while fans of his earlier, tongue-in-cheek, streetwise tone will find it also an integral part of this story–ballast for the mythic, shifting picture of Maniac’s year on the run.” – Kirkus Reviews

“Humorous yet poignant look at the issue of race relations, a rare topic for a work aimed at middle readers…  Full of snappy street-talk cadences, this off-the-wall yarn will give readers of all colors plenty of food for thought.” – Publishers Weekly

“The book will stimulate thinking about racism, and it might help educate those readers who, like so many students, have no first-hand knowledge of people of other races. Pathos and compassion inform a short, relatively easy-to-read story with broad appeal, which suggests that to solve problems of racism, people must first know each other as individuals.” – School Library Journal