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''Maniac Magee'' is a novel written by Jerry Spinelli and was published in 1990 . It won the 1991 Newbery Medal . Jerry Spinelli is the author of dozens of other children's books, including ''Wringer'', which received the Newbery Honor , as well as '' Crash '', '' Space Station Seventh Grade '', '' Stargirl '', and '' Who Put That Hair In My Toothbrush? '' ''Maniac Magee'', like many of his other books, writes his story to entertain young readers while at the same time helping them to understand many important life lessons. In ''Maniac Magee'', the lessons primarily deal with racial and other prejudices and the importance of friends and family. The lessons are easy for children to understand and apply, making a larger impact in young minds. In addition, his story-telling occurs in the fashion of a playground gossip, positing that the reader has already heard of the famous Maniac Magee and the author is merely setting out to tell the true story of the boy. Over the course of the novel, this frame slips into an omniscient narrative, more suited to the serious events that occur. PLOT SUMMARY 12-year-old Jeffrey Lionel "Maniac" Magee, an orphan who is homeless and is a Football and Baseball superstar, can run very fast on railroad tracks, and is able to soothe racial tensions in his town of Two Mills. Two Mills is divided between the black and white people by Hector Street: blacks on East End, whites on West End. The racial tensions in this book are very strong. Maniac is very confused by the racial biases; to him, the people are simply people, heterogeneous but having much in common, such as kindness and cruelty. Jeffrey's parents were killed in a trolley accident when he was three; he spent the next eight years in the bizarre household of his Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan, a couple who hated each other, but, since they were strict Catholics, refused to get divorced. In essence, they lived in the same house without speaking to each other, using Jeffrey as their go-between. Because they refused to share anything with each other, there was two of every item in the house. After Aunt Dot and Uncle have a public argument at Jeffrey's school play, Jeffrey runs out of his school's auditorium and does not stop. After one year of running, Jeffrey arrived in Two Mills. There, he quickly befriended numerous people on both sides of the unofficial segregation. Among them were a contemporary of his, an African-American girl called Amanda Beale, with whose family he lived for several seasons; James Down, known as "Hands", a sport player who was vastly impressed by Jeffrey's own speed, dexterity, and agility; and the Samaritan family of Valerie Pickwell. In addition, Jeffrey proceeded to outdo a gang of bullies, sit on the doorstep of a mysterious, reclusive, and notoriously ill-tempered neighbor called Finsterwald, untie Cobbles' Knot , and stand up honestly to a black boy nicknamed Mars Bar , who covered his own fear by frightening all other children. Later, Jeffrey was startled into the realization of his own difference from the African-Americans with whom he lives. As a result, he flees the town and hides in the buffaloes' enclosure of the local zoo. The buffalo, a mother and a calf, accept Jeffrey freely. One day, he is injured in leaping over a fence. A passing hired hand called Earl Grayson rescues the boy and offers him shelter. The two become fast friends. Jeffrey and Grayson live together through most of the Winter in the equipment room of a gymnasium, creating a nearly utopian life of interdependence and mutual learning. Jeffrey learns that Grayson was once a Minor League Baseball player, forced to retire after a spectacular failure that came in the wake of a sequence of victories. Grayson, in turn, learns to read, which he had neglected through childhood. After Christmas, Grayson, an old man, dies in his sleep. Jeffrey, heartbroken, flees to Valley Forge and waits there to die. He is prevented from dying by two runaway boys, Piper and Russell McNab, whom he bribes into going home. While they are eating at a pizza-vendor's site in Two Mills, the boys' elder brother John appears. John is an extremely tall bully who was humiliated in a baseball game by Jeffrey. For returning the younger duo, John forgives Jeffrey and takes him home. In the McNab house, Jeffrey sees gluttony, squalor, racial prejudice, sloth, and ill-feeling in many ways. He attempts to correct the status quo by bribing the youngest McNabs into good behavior and bringing a guest to Piper's birthday party--that guest being "Mars Bar" Thompson, the East End's harshest kid. The introduction of Mars Bar to the McNabs seems to end in disaster, but teaches Jeffrey a valuable lesson about his friend's character. Due to struggles that result from his unique social position--that of a homeless integrator--Jeffrey leaves the McNabs and roams all over the town, sleeping where he might and running at his own great pace through the streets in the early morning. At similar times, Mars Bar also goes running; when he meets Jeffrey, they run parallel, acknowledging one another in looks but not words. During the course of their running, they come upon the younger McNabs, who are in danger of being crushed by a Trolley on the very same line that Jeffrey's parents died on. Jeffrey walks away without rescuing the children, but Mars Bar rescues them instead. Because they will not let go of him, Mars Bar takes them to his own house, where his mother cares for them. Later, Jeffrey again hides in the buffaloes' enclosure. Mars Bar finds him there and tells him what has happened.He also asks why Jeffrey did not venture out to rescue the little boys. He then invites Jeffrey to visit his family though Jeffrey refuses. On hearing of this refusal, Amanda Beale (who looks on Jeffrey's welfare as her own responsibility) storms into the zoo and retrieves her friend. She insists that Jeffrey become a permanent resident in her house, and Jeffrey accepts. PENNSYLVANIA REFERENCES This book has several hints at its southeastern Pennsylvania setting: # Acme , a store found in Philadelphia and its surrounding area, is mentioned. #The Elmwood Park Zoo . Jeffrey sleeps with the deer for a few nights there. The Elmwood Park Zoo is located in Norristown. # Tastykake Butterscotch Krimpets. Tastykake is based in Philadelphia. #The Schuylkill River . This river flows from the Appalachian Mountains in Central Pennsylvania before joining the Delaware River in Philadelphia. # Valley Forge . Maniac stays in Valley Forge for a night. It says in the book that Valley Forge is 5 or 6 miles from Two Mills. # Hector Street . A street in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, which is next to Norristown. Was a real boundary between African American and White residents. TELEVISION FILM ADAPTATION See Also: Maniac Magee (film) In 2003 , a television film of ''Maniac Magee'' was made on the Nickelodeon network. The film stars then child actors Michael Angarano , Orlando Brown , and Kyla Pratt . EXTERNAL LINKS |
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