Episode 002 - Maniac Magee

 Hello, and welcome to the second episode of The Quill’s Nest. Today we are going to be talking about “Maniac Magee” by Jerry Spinelle.

This is another book that I read and enjoyed as a kid. The Synopsis is :

He wasn’t born with the name Maniac Magee. His real name was Jeffery Lionel Magee, but when his parents died and his life changed, so did his name.

Maniac Magee was a legend. Kids were always talking about how fast he could run; how high he could jump; how no knot would stay knotted once he began to untie it. But the thing he was most known for is what he did for the kids from the black East End and those from the white West End of Two Mills.

Maniac was special. And this is his story.

I really like the way this story is told as if it were a documentary about a historical figure. Magee is cast as almost a child Hercules and these are his adventurers.

The author takes time to explain childhood to his readers by reminding us of all the silly little superstitions and legends we had as kids.

For instance, every neighborhood had the one house with a yard that you would never walk in. In my neighbor hood we called it “The Witches House.” I honestly have no idea how it got that name. I never saw the supposed witch. But the edict was passed down from on high handed to us by the elders, the children that came before us. You do not go into that yard.

In Two Mills that house belongs to Finsterwald. The fear of this house is such that if kids some how find their way into the yard the will freeze up and begin violently shaking. A condition known as the finsterwallies.

Of course this doesn’t bother Maniac one bit. He is even seen reading on the front stoop!

So who is this Maniac?

Jeffery Magee, was born to two loving parents. Two loving parents who died  when he was three years old.

He was taken in by his Aunt and Uncle. He couldn’t stand living with them. So when he was eleven he ran away.

And he just kept running.

The story picks up a year after he ran away, when he arrives at the racially divided Two Mills. The Blacks live on the east side and the whites on the west. The schools are segregated as well.

You won’t find any white kids on the east side of Hector Street nor any black kids on the west.

Maniac, who lives in the deer pin at the zoo. Pays no notice, traveling back and forth at will.

The east enders distrust him because he is white, the west enders dislike him because he doesn’t hat the east enders.

He meets good and nasty people on both sides of the street.

To say he alone solved the problem of racism in the city would be a major stretch of the imagination.

But I think the book can give you a road map on how to solve many of the worlds problems. That solution is to be kind.

Maniac is first and foremost kind to everyone he meets. This child has no anger or hate in his heart. He wants to help everyone he meets. Whether it is teaching an old man how to read or Staying with a family he despises to get the children to go to school, and maybe saving their souls from being filled with hate.

It’s such a simple message, but one I think we need to hear more often today. Be kind. If enough of us are, we might just save the world.

Thank you for joining me again here at The Quill’s Nest. Next week we will be taking a look at “Dragon Wings” by Laurence Yep. It takes place in the early 20th century. An eight year old boy is suddenly sent from his home in China to live in San Francisco with a man he has never met. His father. Together they fight adversity and will make their dreams come true. They will fly.
 
As usual if you would like to get any of the books I review, you can use these amazon affiliate links to get them. It cost you nothing extra and I get a small commission on whatever you purchase.

Maniac Magee and Dragon Wings.