Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli Chapter 1-2 Jeffrey Magee’s parents were killed when he was 3. He was sent to live with an aunt and uncle who didn’t talk to each other or share anything. After 8 years of that, he ran away. He arrived in the town of Two Mills, 200 miles from his aunt and uncle’s place. It took him a year to get there. Nobody knows what he did during that year. Chapter 3-6 Amanda Beale, a girl who lived in Two Mills, dropped her suitcase of books. Jeffrey helped her pick them up and badgered her into lending him one. She carried all her books back and forth to school every day, so that her little brother and sister, Lester and Hester, wouldn’t crayon on them, and so that her dog wouldn’t chew them up. Jeffrey was running and happened to catch the ball when a high school football player threw a pass. Jeffrey punted (kicked) the ball brilliantly, and kept on running. Jeffrey rescued a boy who had been dropped into scary Finsterwald’s backyard, although everyone else was too frightened to go in there. He ended up eating dinner with the large Pickwell family. Then he ran down the rails on the railway. Chapter 7-11 Next, he wandered into a Little League (baseball) practice. Jeffrey hit everything that John McNab threw, right after McNab had struck out everyone else. Frustrated, McNab even threw a frog at Jeffrey. Jeffrey’s bat connected with the frog. He even made a home run on it. By then, his reputation had spread, so that everyone started calling him “Maniac”. McNab and some friends started looking for Maniac, to beat him up. But they turned back when Maniac crossed into the East End (black part) of the town. An East End kid, Mars Bar Thompson, was intimidating Maniac, but Amanda came and took him to her house. Chapter 12-15 Everyone in the Beale family really liked Maniac. When they found out he didn’t have a family, they invited him to stay. He settled into his new life. He was really helpful to the family. He felt happy there. Chapter 16-17 Maniac was blind to others’ prejudice at first, but then it became more visible to him. He started to threaten to leave. Chapter 18-21 Amanda tried to get him to stay by challenging him to untangle Cobble’s Knot, which was famous in their neighbourhood. He became a big hero, but then they saw that someone had snuck into Amanda’s house and tore up her favourite book, “Volume A”, of the encyclopaedia. Maniac figured that the Beale family was paying too high a price for letting him stay. So he ran out of town, escorted by competing gangs of black and white on opposite sides of the street, with him running down the middle. Chapter 22-23 Grayson, the park groundskeeper, found Maniac living in the buffalo pen. Grayson befriended him and let him live in the room behind the park’s band shell.

Chapter 24-25 Grayson had never had any black friends. He had lots of questions for Maniac about the way black people lived, what they ate, etc. Grayson told Maniac the story of his life. He had wanted to be a pro baseball player, but he was knocked out of the minor leagues at the age of 27. He kept playing ball though, until he was 40. Finally, he gave up and became a park worker. Chapter 26-28 Every day, Grayson gave Maniac fifty cents or a dollar. He was surprised when he found out that Maniac was using the money to buy discarded library books. He then asked Maniac to teach him how to read. Maniac taught him. Grayson gradually brought Maniac enough simple possessions to make the equipment room seem kind of homey. Grayson stayed over night on the night he read his first book. Chapter 29-30 By Christmas, Grayson had moved out of the YMCA and into 101 Band Shell Boulevard with Maniac. Grayson gave Maniac his old baseball glove for Christmas. Five days later, he died. Maniac ran from his funeral. Ch. 31-34 Maniac just ran from place to place, sleeping in abandoned cars or stairwells. Finally he just settled down to die, determined that no one else would orphan him. However, two little kids, about 8 years old, came to where he was hiding. They said they were running away, but Maniac figured he had to get them back to Two Mills. He talked them into coming with him to Cobble’s Store, where he got them free pizza. Then John McNab arrived and reclaimed his little brothers, named Piper and Russell. Ch. 35 Maniac goes home with the McNabs. Their home in the West End of town is filthy, infested with roaches. Ch. 36-37 At first, Maniac could use pizza to bribe the little McNab kids into going to school. Gradually, the status that Maniac gave them was more important to them than pizza. They wanted Maniac to do brave stunts as bribes for them to go to school. Eventually, they dared him to go to the East End, where the black folks lived. Ch. 38 Maniac went into the East End, and ran into Mars Bar, who dared him to a race. Magee easily won, going backward across the finish line. He stayed the night at the Beale’s house and then left again at dawn. Ch. 39 The McNabs were building a bunker in their dining room. They were going to use it as a base from which to shoot black folks, whom they were convinced were going to come into their territory. Maniac left. Ch. 40 He went to the Pickwells, in the West End, and saw how they were so like the Beales,

in the East End: friendly, giving, accepting. He saw no difference between white and black. He returned to the McNabs. Russell and Piper no longer demanded stunts from him, but he had little influence on them. Their behaviour got worse and worse, shoplifting, stealing a car, etc. In the prayer-dark seed of their kidhoods, they were identical to Hester and Lester Beale. But they were spoiling, rotting from the outside in, like a pair of peaches in the sun. Maniac felt that unless he, unless somebody, did something, the rot would reach the pit. Maniac sweet-talked the younger boys, but he didn’t take over like a demanding parent would, because he was still longing to be somebody’s son. At last, when they abused Grayson’s glove, Maniac snapped and took over like a parent would. The peace lasted three days and then the novelty wore off. Then he held no power over the little boys. Maniac broke their guns and they yelled at him to leave. He left. After two nights, the boys found him at the library and invited him to Piper’s birthday party. Ch. 41-42 Maniac realized that blacks and whites distrusted each other because they had no experience with each other. He dared Mars Bar to come to Piper’s party with him. First, Maniac took him to the Pickwells, so he could see the best that the West End had to offer. Then, when Maniac and Mars Bar got to the McNabs’ party, the little kids were playing whites against blacks, in their bomb shelter. As expected, the McNabs acted really rude to Mars Bar. Maniac realized that the miracle was not the one he had hoped for. Instead, the miracle was that as scared as Mars Bar felt, outnumbered by the McNabs and their friends, Mars Bar did not lose his courage or his pride. Ch 43 Maniac slept in a different backyard every night, realizing that at night, there were no colour divisions. Ch 43 Maniac and Mars Bar each liked to run outside every morning. After bumping into each other a few times, they started running together, without looking at each other or talking. One morning, Piper McNab stopped them, and asked Maniac to save Russell. Russell McNab, paralysed with fear, was on top of the train trestle. Maniac walked away. He was unwilling to deal with the trestle that had killed his parents. Ch. 45 Maniac had gone back to sleeping in the park’s buffalo pen. That’s where Mars Bar found him. Mars Bar wanted to know why Maniac didn’t rescue Russell, because he knew Maniac wasn’t scared. Mars Bar was the one who rescued Piper’s brother. He then took the two McNab boys to his house, because they just clung on to him. His mom fed them, washed them and gave them clothes to wear. His dad drove the boys home. The little boys asked Mars Bar to come in and play the war game with them. They promised that if he played with them, they’d let him be white. Mars Bar invited Maniac home with him. Maniac refused. Ch. 46 Mars Bar woke up Amanda. Together they went down to the park. Amanda woke up Maniac and commanded him to return home with her. She wouldn’t take no for an answer. Finally, someone had called Maniac home.

Date___________________

Name______________________

1) What is Maniac’s first name? _______________________________ 2) What happened to Maniac’s parents? (Explain clearly and fully) ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ _______________ 3) Why did Maniac run away from home (from his Aunt and Uncle)? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ _________ 4) Why did Amanda Beale always take a suitcase to and from school? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______ 5) What did Maniac do to John McNab, the pitcher, that made McNab dislike Maniac so much? ________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ _________

6) Describe the first meeting between Maniac and Mars Bar (include all important details). ___________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ____________ 7) When Maniac first begins to live with the Beales, he runs out the front door and looks carefully at the front of the house. What is he looking at and why is he looking at it? ___________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ _________ 8) What is “Cobble’s Knot” (why is it famous)? ______________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______ 9) Why does Maniac leave the Beales? Why doesn’t he stay? ________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 10) Describe Maniac’s character. What kind of boy is he? Give examples of his character from the things he does in the novel.

Date___________________

Name____________________

Multiple Choice: Circle the letter of the best answer. 1) When Maniac first ran away from his aunt and uncle’s house, he ended up in Two Mills. He immediately stood out to the people of that town because of something he would say every time he passed someone. What did Maniac say, that made people notice him? a) “Amen!” c) “Hi.” b) “I’m Maniac Magee!” d) “Where’s my home?” 2) Who is the leader of the Cobras? a) John McNab c) Lester Beale b) Mars Bar Thompson d) Ms. Spruston 3) Before Maniac showed up at the Beales, what did Mrs. Beale spend most of her time doing? a) Eating c) Working on the computer at home b) Working at a restaurant d) Cleaning 4) While at the Beales and taking a bath, Maniac notices that he’s covered with red spots. After going to the doctor, he finds out that he’s allergic to ______. a) Chocolate c) Books b) Pizza d) Butterscotch Krimpets 5) Why did Mrs. Beale slap Maniac? a) He was talking trash b) He had wrecked Amanda’s book

c) Mrs. Beale never slapped Maniac d) He wouldn’t eat his dinner

6) Where was Maniac living when Grayson discovered him? a) At the Beales c) In the buffalo pen b) At 101 Bandshell Avenue d) In people’s backyards 7) When Maniac first meets Piper and Russell McNab, Maniac tells them that he is ______________. a) A cop c) a pizza delivery boy b) Maniac Magee d) a Mexican

Put the following events in chronological order (the order in which they happened), by putting the numbers 1 – 8 beside each event. ____ Grayson plays for the minors ____ Maniac screams at his school assembly ____ Russell and Piper play “Bombs Away!” ____ Maniac hits a home run frog ____ Maniac unties Cobble’s Knot ____ Mars Bar and Maniac race against each other ____ Somebody writes “Fishbelly go home” on the Beale’s house ____ Maniac’s parents die Sentence answer questions: Answer each question to the best of your ability. Many of them have more than one part to answer. Remember, each question is worth more than 1 mark. 1 a) In the novel, which character is most similar to Maniac in regards to personality? Choose one from the following people: a) Mars Bar Thompson c) John McNab b) Amanda Beale d) Grayson b) Explain why you think this. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 1) In the beginning of the novel, after Maniac first visits the Beales, he is being

driven home by Mr. Beale. Unfortunately, Maniac makes a mistake. Explain what the mistake was. ______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________

2) Fully explain why Maniac does not want to live with the Beales after Part 1 of the novel. _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ 3) Grayson asks Maniac the following questions. “Toothbrushes? Do they use

them?” Who is Grayson talking about, and why is he asking this question? _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ 4) Other than teaching Grayson how to read, why do you think that Maniac was so

important to Grayson? Explain your answer. _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ 5) Why didn’t Grayson ever learn to read?

_______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ 6) Explain what Grayson’s funeral was like and how it made Maniac feel.

_______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________

7) After finding out from their brother, John McNab, who Maniac is, Russell and

Piper begin to laugh at John because Maniac was the one that hit an in the park home run frog. What does Maniac do next? _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ 8) Fully explain what the McNab house is like. _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ 9) What is a pillbox? Explain why it is important in this story.

_______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ 10) What was the most daring feat (according to the McNabs) that Maniac had to

perform, to get Russell and Piper to go to school? _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ 11) What happened when Maniac and Mars Bar raced?

_______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________

12) In the novel, it says that Piper and Russell went too far one day, and Maniac

lost it. What did the boys do? _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ 13) Maniac brings Mars Bar to the McNab’s birthday party, but before going to the

McNabs, he brings Mars Bar somewhere else. Where does he take him, and why? _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ 14) Why does Maniac walk away, instead of helping Russell out on the trestle

bridge? _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ 15) The last chapter begins, “The teeth of the buffalo clamped firmly upon his ear

and lifted his head up from the straw, up from sleep.” Explain what is happening. _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________

Maniac Magee - final test Name: _________________

Date: _____________

Please answer in complete sentences. 1. What did Amanda do to try to stop Maniac from leaving? _______ _____________________________________________________ 2. Why did Maniac leave the Beale's house?___________________ ____________________________________________________ 3. What had Grayson hoped to do with his life?________________ ___________________________________________________ 4. Why do you think that Grayson and Maniac became good friends? ____________________________________________________ 5. What did Maniac do with the money that Grayson gave him? ____ _____________________________________________________ 6. Why did Maniac want to die after Grayson died? ______________ _____________________________________________________ 7. What happened to give Maniac the will to live again? __________ _____________________________________________________ 8. What were the McNabs building in their dining room and why? ___ _____________________________________________________ 9. How were the Beales and Pickwells alike? ___________________ _____________________________________________________ 10. What was Maniac's plan to try to get the white people and black people to learn to like each other? ___________________________ _______________________________________________________

Maniac Magee Maniac Magee Part 1 to page 63 1. How did Maniac’s parents die? In a trolley accident going into the water 2. Why did Maniac dislike living with his aunt and uncle? They would not talk to each other and they hated each other. 3. What does Amanda carry in her suitcase? Books 4. What did Maniac do in the football field? He carried the ball down the field then punted it back to “Hands”. 5. How did Mrs. Pickwell get all her children to come to dinner? By whistling to them. 6. In baseball, what did McNabb pitch to Maniac instead of a ball? A frog 7. Where did Maniac first sleep in the zoo? In the deer shed 8. What type of people lived in the East End of town? Black people 9. What did Mars Bar offer to Maniac to eat? A chocolate bar 10. Who are Hester and Lester? Amanda’s little brother and sister 11. What food was Maniac allergic to? Pizza 12. Why is Maniac puzzled that the Black people are called black? Because he sees they are fudge, orange, gingersnap…. 13. What was written on the Beale’s front door? Fishbelly go home 14. Who ripped Amanda’s book? Mars Bar Maniac Magee part 2 to 123 1. What is Cobble’s Knot? A huge ball of knotted string 2. What is the prize for untangling the knot? Free pizza for a year 3. Why did Maniac decide to leave the Beales’ house? Because Amanda’s encyclopedia got shredded and he did not want anything else bad to happen. 4. Which animals did Maniac go live with after the Beales’? The buffalo 5. Who rescues Maniac when he faints? Grayson 6. What seems to be Maniac’s favourite food? Butterscotch krimpets. 7. Where does Maniac live after Grayson finds him? In the baseball equipment room. 8. What is Grayson amazed about with black families homes? That their lives, houses, food, toothbrushes are all the same as for white people. 9. What did Grayson want to be when he was a kid? A baseball player. 10. What position did Grayson play in the Minors? Pitcher 11. What was Grayson’s best pitch? The stoopball. 12. What does Maniac teach Grayson to do? Read 13. What does Maniac paint on the outside of the door at the baseball room? 101 so he will have an address. 14. What present did Maniac give Grayson? A book that he had written himself. 15. What present did Grayson give Maniac for Christmas? His baseball glove. 16. What happened to Grayson? He died in his sleep. Maniac Magee part 3 page 124 to end 1. Who are Piper and Russell? The king of the Cobras, John McNab’s younger brothers. 2. What were Piper and Russell doing the first time Maniac meets them? Trying to run away.

3. How does Maniac talk them into staying in town? By offering them free pizza. 4. Who lives in the McNab house? Piper, Russell, John, and the dad. 5. What is the house like? It is disgusting with a hole in the middle of the ceiling, cockroaches, and animal droppings. 6. What were some of the feats MM did to get Piper and Russell to stay in school? Knocked on Finsterwall’s door, ran on the rail, walked barefoot with rats 7. Who won the race between Mars Bar and Maniac? MM 8. What did the McNabbs build in their house? A pillbox for a siege 9. Who did MM bring to Piper and Russell’s party? Mars Bar 10. Who saved Russell from the trolley trestle? Mars Bar 11. Why didn’t MM save Russell from the trolley trestle? Because that was where his parents had died 12. Who brings MM home at the end of the book? Amanda