Kate and Sheila are joined by Jonah as they recap Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli.
Their one word choices were Kind, Protect, and Brave. The beginning is grim. A tragic accident leaves Jeffery Magee an orphan at the age of three.
He is sent to live with a divided family, his aunt and uncle do not talk to each other. By age 11 Jeffery runs away and ends up in Two Mills, a divided town. East side versus West side, of course, to Jeffery there are no sides. He meets a girl hefting a suitcase to school. Amanda Beale is the real deal. She carries her beloved books to school each day to prevent her siblings from destroying them. Jeffery pleads for a book, Amanda reluctantly gives in: Friendship begins!
Quotes: “Amanda took the torn page from Maniac. To her, it was the broken wing of a bird, a pet out in the rain.”
“Maniac Magee was blind. Sort of. Oh, he could see objects, all right. He could see a flying football or a John McNab fastball better than anybody…When you think about it, it’s amazing all the stuff he didn’t see. Such as, big kids don’t like little kids showing them up…Or a kid who’s another color. Maniac kept trying, but he still couldn’t see it, this color business. He didn’t figure he was white any more than the East Enders were black. He looked himself over pretty hard and came up with at least seven different shades and colors right on his own skin, not one of them being what he would call white…Which was all a big relief to Maniac, finding out he wasn’t really white, because the way he figured, white was about the most boring color of all.”
Later on, Jeffery gets the name, Maniac, and becomes a town legend.
He runs unbelievably fast, hits homeruns against the neighborhood bully, sleeps in the buffalo pen at the zoo and even beats the town’s fastest runner, Mars Bar, in a contest. Did I mention Maniac was running backwards?
What can we learn from Maniac? He wants to make the world a better place by being kind to every person he meets. In a town with social inequality and racial tension Maniac bravely searches for a place to belong; to find a family. Does he find one? Is he able to untie the famous Cobble’s knot and get free pizza for a year? Will he be able to teach an elderly man how to read and prevent two misguided kids from running away? There are many ‘knots’ to untie in this Newbury winner from 1991! Isn’t life like untying knots? Let’s see problems as opportunities to grow and help others like Maniac did. He lived each moment to the fullest. Are you ready to meet the Legend? Let’s connect to reflect! Blessings!