Maniac Magee is a very funny, sometimes touching, story of Jeffrey Lionel "Maniac" Magee, a young man who is a legend in his youth. He performs phenomenal athletic feats, yet he shows wisdom and insight far greater than are normal for his age. The book is a combination of realistic fiction, humor, folklore, and even a little legend

Ages 8 and Up - Maniac Magee was the 1991 Newbery Award Winner. In a tall tale style, this short novel tells the story of Jeffery "Maniac" Magee, an orphan and runaway, whose interesting feats and quest for a home make him a legend to children in one town. In a large sense Maniac Magee is a didactic story about post-civil rights movement racial segregation, but it also has strong themes of family and home. While the tall tale style naturally lends itself to generalizations and stereotypes, I was a bit concerned about a few of them that came across in this story that is, I think, purposefully trying to combat them. I noticed, for example, that all the racist people in the story are poor males, that all the women are kind and nurturing, and that the sweet, welcoming people on both sides of the tracks are large nuclear families, and that the ignorant people are, on top of being poor and male, from broken homes. These characteristics might be a sign of them time the book was written or an effect of the writing style.
On top of being an award-winner, this book is still popular with children, particularly boys. Recommended for all juvenile fiction collections. ( )

Jerry Lionel “Maniac” Magee might’ve had an average childhood, but nothing else about his life would be normal again after he runs away from home at age eleven and ends up in Two Mills, Pennsylvania at twelve. Residents of Two Mills don’t know what to make of the new boy. He’s impossibly athletic. Loves to learn even though he doesn’t go to school. And, above all, he doesn’t seem to notice the way the town is divided in two, with whites living on one side of town, and blacks on another. As far as Maniac is concerned, he can talk to, befriend, and live with anyone he chooses to.

This is the story of the unassuming boy who singlehandedly changed the way a town felt about racial divide.

MANIAC MAGEE is one of those unassuming, yet quietly powerful novels, despite its Newbery Award win and near canonization in modern children’s literature. It’s a seriously ageless novel, in that readers can always get something new out of it, no matter what age you are. When I read this book for the first time in elementary school, I enjoyed the realistic banter between the children, between the blacks and the whites. Now, as I reread it for my children’s literature class, I am in awe of the way that Spinelli effortlessly weaves a moral tale into something entertaining and unique. His language is brilliance, stars and moon itself, and his characters are memorable and relatable. Even though I’m still not a fan of Maniac, with his improbable feats and passivity, this book is a must-read if you’re looking for the best of the best in children’s lit. ( )

School Library Journal 6/1/1990
Gr 6-10-- Warning: this interesting book is a mythical story about racism. It should not be read as reality. Legend springs up about Jeffrey ``Maniac'' Magee, a white boy who runs faster and hits balls farther than anyone, who lives on his own with amazing grace, and is innocent as to racial affairs. After running away from a loveless home, he encounters several families, in and around Two Mills, a town sharply divided into the black East End and the white West End. Black, feisty Amanda Beale and her family lovingly open their home to Maniac, and tough, smart-talking ``Mars Bar'' Thompson and other characters are all, to varying degrees, full of prejudices and unaware of their own racism. Racial epithets are sprinkled throught the book; Mars Bar calls Maniac ``fishbelly,'' and blacks are described by a white character as being ``today's Indians.'' In the final, disjointed section of the book, Maniac confronts the hatred that perpetuates ignorance by bringing Mars Bar to meet the Pickwells--``the best the West End had to offer.'' In the feel-good ending, Mars and Maniac resolve their differences; Maniac gets a home and there is hope for at least improved racial relations. Unreal? Yes. It's a cop-out for Spinelli to have framed this story as a legend--it frees him from having to make it real, or even possible. Nevertheless, the book will stimulate thinking about racism, and it might help educate those readers who, like so many students, have no first-hand knowledge of people of other races. Pathos and compassion inform a short, relatively easy-to-read story with broad appeal, which suggests that to solve problems of racism, people must first know each other as individuals. --Joel Shoemaker, Tilford Middle School, Vinton, IA

Publisher's Weekly 5/11/1990

In this modern-day tall tale, Spinelli ( Dump Days ; Jason and Marceline ) presents a humorous yet poignant look at the issue of race relations, a rare topic for a work aimed at middle readers. Orphaned as an infant, Jerry Magee is reared by his feuding aunt and uncle until he runs away at age eight. He finds his way to Two Mills, Pa., where the legend of ``Maniac'' Magee begins after he scores major upsets against Brian Denehy, the star high school football player, and Little League tough guy, John McNab. In racially divided Two Mills, the Beales, a black family, take Maniac in, but despite his local fame, community pressure forces him out and he returns to living at the zoo. Park groundskeeper Grayson next cares for the boy, but the old man dies and Maniac moves into the squalid home of the McNabs, who are convinced a race war is imminent. After a showdown with his nemesis, Mars Bar, Maniac bridges the gap between the two sides of town and finally finds a home. Full of snappy street-talk cadences, this off-the-wall yarn will give readers of all colors plenty of food for thought. Ages 8-12. (Apr.) ( )

Maniac Magee is about a boy whose parents died in a car crash, so he went to live with his aunt and uncle and he ends up running away because they fight all the time. Magee runs all the way to a town called Two Mills, where he meets a girl and she ends up being his friend. Magee ends up living at a zoo in a cage, and he plays baseball and hits alot of homeruns so he get picked on by some bullies at school.

I liked like book as well. It was kind of sad because Magee had a tough life and it seemed like everyone picked on him. Im glad he did have one friend though. I think alot of students would enjoy this book.

I would have the children read this and write a paper as to why we dont bully, and then we would go and play a game of baseball on a pretty day.