Book Talk

  What was your life like at the age of 3? Probably filled with fun, toys, and laughter? Well that was not how Jeffery Lionel Magee’s life was. At the tender age of three Jeffery became an orphan in an instant. His parents left him with his babysitter, and never returned because they were killed in a trolley accident. After the tragedy Jeffery was forced to go live with his Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan, who hated one another but refused to get a divorce because they were strict Catholics. In their home Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan did not share anything. They had two of everything, and often wished they could split Jefferey in two. Talk about dysfunction! Jeffrey lived with Aunt and Uncle for eight years, but by this time he had had enough. At his school musical they sat on opposite ends of the auditorium, and after yelling at them to talk to one another Jeffrey ran, and ran and he did not look back. Infact, he ran 200 miles to a town called Two Mills which was connected to Bridgeport where he grew up, by the Schuylkill Bridge. On his first day of arrival Jeffery’s adventure began as he searched for a place he could call home. As he entered the town he met a black girl named Amanda Beale who was friendly and she allowed him to borrow one of her books. From their conversation he quickly learned that Two Mills was segregated. The blacks lived in the East End and the whites lived in the West End of town. He continued to run with his shoes flapping, because the soles were torn. During his running adventures he stood up to bullies, did heroic acts to save other children, he even defeated a star athlete who thought there was not one kid he could not strike out, and he helped build a bridge between the black and white children in the town . From all of his courage and adventures he obtained the name Maniac Magee, and he became a famous legend in Two Mills.  To find out where Manic Magee’s running adventure led him, and to find out if he ever found a place to call home…pick up this excellent book Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli.