Maniac Magee
| Book Talk: Jeffrey Lionel Magee's parents died when he was young, and one day he decides he can no longer stand to live with his aunt and uncle and runs away. He keeps running, performing amazing sports feats along the way that earn him the legendary name "Maniac." When runs into Amanda Beale and is taken into the Beale home and treated as one of the family. For a while, all is well; Jeffrey has a loving family and a real address. The problem, however, is that Jeffrey is white, and he has been taken in by a black family in a town that is very racially divided. While most people don't mind his being with the Beales, a few begin to cause trouble, so Jeffrey leaves. He lives for a while in a baseball equipment room with an old man, and then with a dysfunctional white family, but he only really feels at home with the Beales. Jeffrey takes all of his surroundings in stride and believes wholeheartedly that people are people regardless of the shade of their skin. Eventually, he becomes friends with the black boy who caused the trouble with the Beales and brings about the most change in racial attitudes that the town has seen in a long time.
(Linda Wolfgram, wolfgraml@crpl.cedar-rapids.lib.ia.us, Middle/High School Media Specialist, Benton Community Schools, Van Horne, IA)
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The author of this site, Ann Ryan, may be reached at ARyan@bayless.k12.mo.us.
This page was last updated July 9, 2008.
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