This book is full of the adventures of a boy dubbed Maniac Magee. He's an orphan who runs away from home and challenges the stereotypes and "norms" of the world. He finds homes with many different people and challenges the preconceived notions of people.
Grayson is a crotchety old bachelor who tends the zoo. He's unable to read and write, and he's suspicious of others and bitter about life. Maniac befriends the old man and gives him a new take on life.
Maniac also befriends a sassy Amanda Beale. Amanda's parents realize Maniac is homeless, and they open their home to him. He quickly becomes a part of the family. There's one small problem (according to some - definitely not Maniac): the Beales are black and Maniac is white.
Maniac also befriends two devilish boys, Russell and Piper McNab. He quickly settles into their home where he adopts the role of surrogate older brother. The McNabs' father notices there's a new face in the house, but he pays this new household member as little attention as he pays his unruly sons. Maniac attempts to teach Russell and Piper the importance of education and kindness.
In addition to his ever-changing home life, Maniac also becomes a legend among his peers. He can run faster than anyone. He can catch more footballs. He can untie "The Knot." He's allergic to pizza.
As I was reading this book, I found myself sticky noting excerpts for writing workshop minilessons. Here are a few.
Catchy beginning.
They say Maniac Magee was born in a dump. They say his stomach was a cereal box and his heart a sofa spring.
They say he kept an eight-inch cockroach on a leash and that rats stood guard over him while he slept.
They say if you knew he was coming, and you sprinkled salt on the ground and he ran over it, within two or three blocks he would be as slow as everybody else.
They say (1).
Entertaining and effective analogies.
So, there's Arnold Jones, held up by all these hands, flopping and kicking and shrieking like some poor Aztec human sacrifice about to be tossed off a pyramid. "No! No! Please!" he pleads. "Pleeeeeeeese!" (17).
A chittering. A chattering. And getting louder - yes - chattering teeth. Arnold Jones's teeth. They're chattering like snare drums (18).
McNab froze, then flinched, just in time. The ball missed his head but nipped the bill of his cap and sent it spinning like a flying saucer out to shortstop (24).
If you look at old pictures in the Two Mills times, you see that the Knot was about the size and shape of a lopsided volleyball. It was made of string, but it had more contortions, ins and outs, twists and turns and dips and doodles than the brain of Albert Einstein himself (69).
Practical Considerations: This book is a home-run. Middle schoolers, both boys and girls, would enjoy this read. It'd be a good one for read-alouds, too. I was surprised by the book's message about racism as I didn't know the book dealt with the topic until I was reading it. Maniac doesn't understand why blacks and whites live in separate neighborhood and regard one another as "different" because to him, they're not different at all.
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