Monday, May 20, 2013

Maniac Magee (by Jerry Spinelli)

Reviewed by Jordan Snyder

Summary

            In 1991, Jerry Spinelli won the Newbery Medal for his novel Maniac Magee. Before winning the Newbery Medal, Spinelli attended Gettysburg College. While Spinelli was in college he wrote short stories and was an editor for a college magazine. After college, Spinelli worked as a men’s wear editor for a department store magazine and began writing his first novel. Spinelli wrote 4 novels in 15 years before his first book was published, Space Station Seventh Grade. Since his first novel publication, Spinelli has written 30 books and has won a Newbery Medal for Maniac Magee and received a Newbery Honor Medal for Wringer (Spinelli).

            In the novel Maniac Magee, everyone in Two Mills, Pennsylvania knows the legend of Maniac Magee. However, before Maniac became known as Maniac Magee, he was simply known as Jeffrey Lionel Magee. Jeffrey lived a normal life with two normal parents, until the day of the fatal trolley accident that took the lives of both Jeffrey’s parents. After the death of his parents, Jeffrey was sent to live with his unhappy aunt and uncle who did not speak to one another. Then one night at the school’s spring musical, Jeffrey decides he has finally had enough with his aunt and uncle’s silence and screams out “Talk! Talk! Talk!” and runs out of the auditorium. When Jeffrey runs out of the auditorium, he does not stop running until he enters the segregated town of Two Mills, Pennsylvania.

            Two Mills, is deeply divided racially. These divisions are reflected in its two sides, the East End and the West End. The East End consists of African-American people and the West End consists of the white people in Two Mills. While looking for a place to call home, Maniac has many different adventures in both East and West End. For example, while in West End Maniac hits every pitch thrown by the biggest twelve-year-old on the little league team, John McNab  whom no one as ever hit before. As a result, McNab becomes so frustrated with Maniac that he pitches a frog to Maniac. Maniac hits an amazing in the park homerun off the frog ball and the frog hops away unharmed. Not only does the frog ball hit contribute to the legend of Maniac Magee, but Maniac also enhances his legend when he goes into the yard of the meanest old man ever, Mr. Finsterwald, and saves a kid from Mr. Finsterwald. While in East End, Maniac races the toughest kid in East End, wins the races, and untangles the famous Cobble’s knot, the toughest tangled rope knot in all of Two Mills. While in East End, Maniac lives with the Beale family until a vandalizer writes “Go home fish belly” on the side of the Beale home with chalk. After seeing the side of the house, Maniac feels that he is bringing pain to the Beale family and decides to leave the family.

            But because he has nowhere else to go, Maniac actually ends up living with buffalo in a zoo. But then an old man, Earl Grayson, finds Maniac and takes him in. With Grayson, Maniac has a home and a home address, something Maniac has always wanted. Grayson becomes a friend and father figure to Maniac. While living with one another, Grayson tells Maniac stories about his time in the minor leagues and Maniac teaches Grayson to read. However, Grayson dies, leaving Maniac homeless once again. After Grayson’s heartbreaking death, Maniac ends up living with the McNabs for little while, but Maniac never considers the McNabs’ house his home. In the McNab home, Maniac sees the prejudice and ignorance of Mr. McNab and the effects of Mr. McNab’s prejudice on the two youngest McNab boys. Maniac leaves the McNab home and ends up back in the buffalo pen at the zoo. However, this time Amanda Beale comes to the zoo and convinces Maniac come back to the Beale home with her. Maniac decides to stay with the Beale family and finally has an address to call home.

Interest

            Early adolescents who are in 4th to 6th grade will enjoy this book. Maniac Magee has many adventures and the intrigue of a boy who is known as a legend will draw in the interest of young adolescents. The intrigue of a Also, boys will be more interested in reading Maniac Magee than girls because the story is told in third person and does not go into the emotions that Maniac experiences. In fact, when Grayson dies, the reader does not know what Maniac is feeling. The narrator simply tells us that Maniac runs. Also, the external actions that Maniac carries out and the inclusion of other masculine characters in the story, such as Mars Bars and John McNab, will draw in young adolescent boys. Young adolescent girls may like that the majority of the story takes place in two distinct ends of town. However, the reader must keep track of which end Maniac is in during the story. Overall, boys will enjoy reading Maniac Magee more than girls because of the outward actions, lack of emotions, and masculine characters in the novel.

Developing Mature Readers

            Growing Independent from Parents

One of the tasks presented in Maniac Magee is growing independent from one’s parents. The book does not show growing independent from one’s parents in a positive light. Maniac loses his parents at a young age and becomes homeless as a result of his parents’ death. Maniac is forced to grow independent from his parents in the book; it is not a choice he made on his own. Maniac would be a negative example of the task because he grew independent from his parents too soon. As a result, Maniac ends up being homeless. In a public school, some students may be able to relate to Maniac’s situation of homelessness or being forced to become independent too fast.
 
Developing Relationships with People of the Same Age

            Another task the novel addresses is developing relationships with people of the same age and achieving good relationships with members of the opposite sex. Maniac develops relationships with the McNab boys, Amanda Beale, and Mars Bar Thompson throughout the novel. The relationships between Maniac, the McNab boys, and Mars Bar Thompson did not start out as friendly relationships. However, as time goes by in the novel, the relationships turn into more positive relationships, especially between Maniac and Mars Bar. Maniac is good example of the task because he ends up developing positive relationships with the other characters. Students will be able to relate to the task of building relationships because students want to have friends and relationships with other students in their grade. Also, when students interact with their peers, they may not develop a positive relationship some peers right away. In Maniac Magee, Spinelli shows that relationships with people can change once he or she gets to know the other person a little more.

            Gaining a Sense of Achievement
            Spinelli also has the task of gaining a sense of achievement in Maniac Magee. Maniac positively displays the task when he gains a sense of achievement by untangling Cobble’s knot, teaching Grayson how to read, and finally having a home address. Grayson also gains a sense of achievement when he learns how to read. Students may be able to relate to Grayson’s sense of achievement by remembering how they felt when they learned to read. Also, there will be students in the classroom who struggle with reading. Therefore, those students who struggle with reading will be able to relate to Grayson’s feeling sense of achievement when those students make progress in their reading. Also, some students may relate to Maniac’s achievement of teaching Grayson to read through their experience of helping their classmates or younger siblings with a school related topics, like math or reading.

            Becoming Aware of and Living Consistently with His or Her Beliefs and Values

            The last task included in Maniac Magee is becoming aware of and living consistently with his or her beliefs and values. Maniac has to decide what he believes about people of different races. In the end, Maniac is a positive example because he chooses to get along with and get to know both the people in West End and East End. Students may be able to relate to making decisions for themselves about people in different situations, like socio-economic status and race. Spinelli shows that all people, no matter their race, are important when Grayson asks Maniac questions about the Beale family and Maniac responds, “They’re just regular people, like us” (Spinelli 88). As Maniac goes through the process of developing these values, he becomes a role model for students.

Potential Issues

            There are some potential issues in Maniac Magee. The most obvious of these is the racial tension between the white citizens of East End and the black citizens of West End. The racial tension is shown on both ends of Two Mills. The McNabs are ready for another civil war against the people of East End, and Maniac is called “fish belly” and “whitey” on the East End. However, the book does not show segregation in a positive light. The reader feels bad for Maniac when he is called “fish belly,” and the reader also sees the ignorance of Mr. McNab’s prejudice.

            Name calling and language is another factor in the book that may be an issue. Some of the characters use negative language to cut down other characters in the book. However, the novel shows the characters that use harmful language as negative characters. The reader is upset with the character that is cutting down other characters and sympathizes with the victim who is being made fun of. Another potential issue is Maniac running away from his problems rather than dealing with his problems. For example, when Maniac’s parents die and he has to move in with his aunt and uncle, Maniac decides to run away from his aunt and uncle. Maniac also runs away when Grayson dies instead of dealing with Grayson’s death. Maniac’s running all time helps to create the legend of Maniac Magee in the novel, but also allows Maniac to run away when life gets tough. When teaching Maniac Magee, the teacher needs to emphasis to his students that running away from problems is not the correct way to handle problems. Students in today’s world face more problems than students in the past. Therefore, students will be able to relate to having problems in his or her own life similar to Maniac’s problems. Since students have problems in their lives, they need to be taught how to properly deal with problems.

            Death, stealing, and homelessness, are also potential issues in the novel. When Maniac’s parents and Grayson dies, the reader sympathizes for Maniac. Stealing in the book is only mentioned once. However, the book just glides over the issue and does not address stealing as bad or good. Parents and teachers will want to make sure that the students know that stealing is wrong. Throughout the novel Maniac is homeless, and he longs for a home and home address. Maniac may be a legend, but the book clearly demonstrates the struggle homelessness.

Recommendation

            Even though there are a few potential issues with the book, there are numerous opportunities for discussion on these issues. Also, the book shows the majority of these problems in a negative light. Teaching the novel in class will depend on the make-up and maturity level of the class. If a teacher feels that not every student is mature enough to read the novel then he can suggest the novel on an individual basis. Maniac Magee is a good book to help encourage male students to read. One beneficial aspect of the book is the writing style. The story is written as a legend. Not many adolescent novels are written as legends, so using Maniac Magee in a classroom or for outside reading would expose students to more writing styles than the typical narrative novel.

Resources for Teaching or Research

            Many valuable resources are available to help teachers teach Maniac Magee. One excellent website is readworks.org. Readworks provides various materials such as lesson plans and ideas for teachers to use in the classroom while teaching the novel. Some of lessons include lessons about theme, predicting, and analyzing relationships in the story. Readworks also includes worksheets and assessment ideas for teachers to use to assess their students’ learning.

            Another excellent website for teaching this novel is scholastic.com. Scholastic is a great resource to help teachers plan reading lessons or literature focus units. Scholastic provides information about the book, the author, and gives a list of similar books students may be interested in reading. Scholastic also provides vocabulary and writing prompt ideas to use when teaching a novel. Through scholastic.com teachers can also purchase materials, such as a pre-made literature focus unit, to help teach the novel.

Three Strategies for Teaching Reading through the Novel

            One strategy for teaching this novel is reading groups. In the reading groups, students will read an assigned section of the book together and stop and discuss what they have read at the end of the section. Through small reading groups, students will be able to focus on their reading, hear how their reading should sound, be able to discuss what they have read, and have support from other students in the reading group. While students are in reading groups, the teacher will need to walk around to the different groups, discuss some of the questions with the group, and ask other questions about the reading.

            Another strategy for teaching this novel is to have the students compare and contrast Maniac Magee with other legends. Students will look at characteristics of a different legend and compare and contrast those characteristics with Maniac Magee. Once students have thought through both stories they will apply their knowledge of legends by writing their own legend. Students will then present their legend to the class. Through students’ investigation of legends with the novel students will be able to work on their writing and reading skills.

            A third strategy for teaching Maniac Magee is students responding to journal questions that address certain issues in the book. For example, students can write a response to Maniac’s quote about the people in East End being normal people just like the white people in West End. Journal questions will help students to comprehend and make personal connections with the text. Students will also have journal questions that allow the students to respond to a question the way they think a certain character in the book would respond.

 Works Cited

"Maniac 5th Grade Unit." Readworks.org. N.d.. Web. 15 Apr 2013.

"Maniac Magee." Scholastic.com. Scholastic. Web. 15 Apr 2013.

Spinelli, Jerry. "Jerry Spinelli's Bio." Jerry Spinelli. Temean Consulting, n.d. Web. 27 Apr 2013.

Spinelli, Jerry. Maniac Magee. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1990. Print.