Jerry Spinelli - Literature Guides Maniac Magee: Literature Guide

Pros: Well written, will appeal to reluctant readers

Cons: Maybe one last chapter to bring closure

Review: From the first sentence, Jerry Spinelli has the reader hooked.
"Maniac, Maniac,
He's so cool
Maniac, Maniac
Don't go to school."

The reader can't help but want to go...

Pros: Expands child's imagination & mind.

Cons: None

Review: My 10 year old loved it!! She said he is a great writer of children's books. What a treat to be able to capture the wondering minds of pre-teens the way Jerry does! He is able to capture your child's attention. In this age bracket, that's hard to do. He...

Pros: either side of town is fine

Cons: living on the street might not be so bad

Review: Maniac Magee is one of the best childrens books I have read in a long time. My son had to do a poster board book report and he chose this book to do it on. I have never read any of the other titles by this author but if I see one in a store I will...

Pros: It teaches acceptance generosity and tolerance of others

Cons: It does have racial tones

Review: As an educator I use various methods and materials in my classroom.
Maniac Magee is one of the tools I use to teach reading with.
I chose to use Maniac Magee for two reasons. The first reason was
because it was written by Jerry...

Pros: For Great Imagination

Cons: Fills heads with nonsense

Review: I believe this book was very well written on the bases it was on. Mainly it is a book about a runaway boy that learns new things, by running to a faraway place where there is conflict between the blacks and whites. I recommend that you read this book....

Pros: Good Details you can imagine it in your head

Cons: some what confusing

Review: I thought that this book was actually really good. The story would probably never actually happen but I still liked it. There were some really sad parts which I personally don't like, but then again there was also really happy parts. If you like fiction...

Pros: a lesson of the heart, that people are different

Cons: a little sad, black vs white

Review: When my daughter read this book she could not put it down, and when she was done reading it she wanted to read more chapters. This story is a lesson in compassion.

It starts out with a boy who is an orphan who runs around making friends with...

Pros: Tugs at the heartstrings

Cons: none

Review: Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli was a book my granddaughter read for a book report in about the 5th or 6th grade. From the time she was little we read books to her all the time. Supposedly that will encourage your youngster to want to read themselves. In...

Pros: easy to read

Cons: not a literary hallmark

Review: Spinelli's informal, exaggerative, storyteller style pulls young children immediately into Maniac's story. It's almost as though the audience is a newcomer who listens to town gossip by a town crier. What does the town crier relate? Well, Maniac is a...

Pros: a twist of everything comical yet meaningful

Cons: nothing much

The Bottom Line: REad it, it's worth the time.

Review: I loved Maniac Magee it was a funny, yet touching, story of Jeffrey Lionel "Maniac" Magee, a legend in his youth. His athletic feats preformed are superb, yet he shows wisdom and insight far greater than are normal for his age. The book is a twist of ...