Maniac Magee

Hook:

"No one knew it then, but it was the birth scream of a legend. And that's when the running started. Three springy steps down from the risers- girls in pastel dresses screaming, the music director lunging-a leap from the stage, out the side door and into the starry, sweet, onion-grass-smelling night. Never again to return to the house with two toasters. Never again to return to school." (page 17)

"The space heater wasn't on, no steaming cups sat on the table, the old man was still under the covers. Maniac went over. 'Grayson.' He shook the old man. 'Grayson?' He took the old man's hand. It was cold. 'Grayson!" (page115)

"Every week Maniac paid it. (And besides, he loved to meet the challenges they cooked up for him.) And then one day they gave him the most perilous challenge of all. They dared him to go into the East End." (page 142)

Recommendation:

Do you know what it feels like to be a legend? Well, Jeffery Lionel Magee does. Jeffery's parents died in a car crash and now he is an orphan, but this is not how this legend came to be. Now known as Maniac Magee, Jeffery is known as the kid who could run the fastest, jump the highest and untie even the toughest of knots. He was gifted. Maniac goes from person to person, home to home and heart to heart. Touching people's lives. The East End whites and West End blacks do not wish to get along. Maniac is shoved in between the two. Both of whom he is friends with most people. Can Maniac Magee turn this disaster around? Or, will  hate put up a fight? There is no doubt this kid is a legend.

Book by: Jerry Spinelli

Blog by: Madison H.

Genre: Realistic fiction