audiobooks

Jeffery "Maniac" Magee's parents died he ran away from his aunt and uncle. Now he is homeless. Maniac Mmagee maves in with the Beales, a black family at a time when blacks and whites were segregated. Someone writes "fishbelly" on the Beale house so Maniac decides its time to leave. He then lives in the buffalo pen in the local zoo until he is discovered by a man named Grayson. Grayson gives Maniac food, shelter, and love. it doesn't work out with Grayson so Maniac finds a home with his enemy John McNab. It eventually works out for Jeffery "Maniac" Magee. This book would be best for older elementary to middle school students.
Maniac Magee ia a non-fiction book. This book has happy, sad, and even touching parts to it. hester and Lester can really get your sides hurting while the bond between grayson and Maniac will touch your heart forever. Maniac was very popular in both the east (black community) and west (white community)ends. A popular jump rope chant with little girls is " Maniac Maniac he's so cool Maniac Manic don't go to school runs all night runs all right Maniac Maniac kissed a bull."You will follow Maniac through his brave rescues and daring adventures. Fourth through eighth graders would most aprecciate this book.
This book will appeal to older kids because of the heroic adventures and simple tasks like untieing knots. This book does have some profanity.
Jerry Spinelli is an effective writer. His book is filled with emotion. It is not a factual book.
Most people who enjoy emotioal books with happy and sad parts will love Mania Magee.

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli is a wonderfully written novel that explores several delicate topics in a lighthearted manner. The main character, Jeffrey Lionel Magee, must deal with not only the loss of his parents, but also feeling unwanted by his relatives. Due to feeling unwanted by his Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan, Maniac runs away and finds himself in a variety of sticky situations. The situations range from gangs to racial prejudice. The way that Maniac befriends Amanda Beale and the how he becomes friends with Mars Bar helps students learn how to overcome racial prejusdice. He teaches an old man how to read and even rescues two young boys and convinces them not to run away from their home. Maniac tries to unite the East End (Whites) and the West End (Blacks) by getting them to see past the color of a persons skin and see a person.
This book is a wonderful tool to open up discussions. My students loved discussing the "Finsterwallies" and envisioning the "frogball". Young teens are excited to read this book simply to find out what is going to happen to Maniac next. He gets himself into some hilarious situations and some sad situations. The short, fast moving chapters help to keep the reader motivated. Everyday when we would stop reading, my students would beg for more time to read. I think that Jerry Spinelli did a fabulous job writing this novel and my students and I absolutely loved it!

Right...well, I suppose you could say I didn't fully understand the point of this book. A little boy's parents die, he has to live with his feuding Aunt and Uncle and then he runs away one day. When he finds a place to live he runs away. The book is about a boy running for no reason....right...as I said I didn't fully understand the point.