Maniac Magee

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Tall Tales”

In this activity, students will analyze the author’s method of using tall tales to resolve difficult problems and apply it to situations in their own environment.

Jerri Spinelli’s Maniac Magee was inspired by events that occurred in his childhood. Spinelli, as an adult, chose to resolve the problems in his childhood by writing about Maniac, whose larger-than-life persona helps to resolve difficulties and conflicts. Consider how Spinelli uses Maniac’s legendary skills and status to ease trouble and conflict in the novel. Create a premise for a parallel story in which your own legendary skills somehow solve problems that exist in your own childhood town. Consider these points as you compose your story:

• What problems in your community need to be addressed?
• For what traits, skills, or actions would you be able to gain legendary status like Maniac?
• How will your tall-tale attributes contribute to the resolution of your community’s problems?

Share your premise with peers, describing your community’s problems and the way in which your legendary accomplishments or actions help to solve the conflict. In a piece of reflective writing, draw comparisons between Maniac Magee’s tall-tale attributes and your own.

Teaching Suggestion: Students may find it beneficial to review their discussion on tall tales prior to beginning the activity. Consider encouraging students to review incidents in the novel in which Maniac can accomplish seemingly impossible tasks. Students can list problems they have encountered that either align with Maniac’s experience or are unique to their own experiences. Students might, for example, wish to address bullying in school or pollution in their community. Students might use brainstorming techniques to list exaggerated feats that could create solutions for their difficult problems.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below bulleted outlines. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Circumstances in Two Mills cause individuals to perform acts of courage to obtain personal goals.

• What is the general result of acts of courage in the story? (topic sentence)
• Consider three characters in the novel who act courageously and explain what they are attempting to accomplish through their bravery. Discuss the impact on the community with each act in support of your topic sentence.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, explain how you believe these characters would define courage.

2. Sports are an important element in Maniac Magee.  

• What is the likely reason that Spinelli chose to include sports and competition in Maniac Magee?  (topic sentence)
• Identify and discuss three examples of the importance of sports and competition in the novel that support your topic sentence. Use details and quotations from the text in your response.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, summarize and briefly explain how the importance of sports and competition relates to one of the themes.

3. Maniac’s relationship with Grayson illustrates many life lessons.

• How does Maniac and Grayson’s relationship demonstrate the importance of second chances? (topic sentence)
• Analyze and discuss the ways in which Grayson and Maniac’s relationship serves to provide each with a second chance. Why is a second chance important to Grayson and to Maniac? Is one character’s second chance more valuable than the others’? Explain.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, summarize the advice Grayson might have given Maniac upon his (Grayson’s) death. Briefly explain this advice in connection with your topic sentence.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Consider the impact of the racial divide in Two Mills and its effect on three characters that live in the town. In an essay of at least three main points, describe the impact of prejudice on each character, how prejudice influences the way the characters perceive the world, and the ideas Spinelli may be communicating about racism and prejudice. Strengthen your response by including specific examples from the novel.

2. Throughout the novel, Maniac Magee struggles to find a home where he belongs. Consider the novel’s theme of Finding a Home. In three main points, compare two families in the novel regarding the kind of home they create, including factors such as the way they interact and their belief systems. Speculate on whether Maniac Magee would find lasting fulfillment with the families you compared. Include quotes from the novel to validate your response.

3. Maniac Magee can perform impossible tasks and consequently earns the respect of the civilians of Two Mills. Consider Maniac’s abilities in connection with The Power of Myths and Stories. In an essay of three main points, select three of Maniac’s incredible deeds, explain how they contribute to his legendary status, and speculate as to whether it is important to understand the reality behind them. Cite examples from the novel to support your analysis.

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-book review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. How does Maniac Magee receive a reputation for being a “Maniac”?

A) He does not understand important social cues in his environment.

B) He accomplishes impossible tasks others are not able to accomplish.

C) He frequently exacerbates interactions between the East and West Ends.

D) He lives alone on the street without caregivers to supervise him.

2. What is Maniac’s reason for isolating himself from families?

A) He does not want others to force him to attend school.

B) He thinks he can take care of himself without supervision.

C) He believes his presence creates bad luck for his caretakers.

D) The families he encounters do not wish to include him.

3. What is likely the reason Maniac is reluctant to become comfortable in the Beales’ home?

A) He is afraid he will be forced to leave it.

B) He doesn’t want to become dependent on others.

C) He does not want to become an imposition.

D) He thinks the floor is more comfortable than the bed.

4. What is the significance of the Beales’ insistence on calling Maniac by his given name, Jeffrey?

A) It means Mrs. Beale does not believe Jeffrey displays “maniac”-like behavior.

B) It indicates how the Beales refrain from participating in name-calling.

C) It proves they do not know of the incredible things Maniac has done.

D) It shows that the Beales perceive Jeffrey as one of their own.

5. What best describes the connection Grayson feels with Maniac?

A) They share a connection because of their fondness for people in Two Mills.

B) Grayson believes he was once like the boy Maniac is.

C) Grayson and Maniac both bond over their interest in zoo animals.

D) Maniac teaches Grayson to read, fulfilling one of his goals.

6. What statement addresses the novel’s interpretation of family?

A) Families consist of individuals who live with and care for one another.

B) Families are composed of those who are biologically related.

C) Families can be those who live together through formal adoption.

D) Families are flawless, rarely engaging in conflict of any kind.

7. What is the significance of Mars’s decision to run with Maniac?

A) It allows Mars to become friends with the McNabs.

B) It marks the shift of their relationship from enemies to friends.

C) It becomes the catalyst for Maniac’s legendary status.

D) It signifies Mars’s decision to shed his tough demeanor.

8. What do books represent to Maniac?

A) They symbolize the formation of familial bonds.

B) They signify the intolerance between the East and West Ends.

C) They reinforce the bond between the McNabs and Maniac.

D) They illustrate Maniac’s desire to go to school.

9. Which statement best summarizes Maniac’s strongest desire?

A) He desires to be friends with everyone.

B) He wants to become a major league baseball player.

C) He intends to resolve the differences between the East and West Ends.

D) He wishes he had a family to belong to.

10. What is the greatest impact Maniac makes on Two Mills?

A) The local pizza shop gives him free pizza for untying a giant knot.

B) He impresses the local children with his seemingly impossible feats.

C) Kids from the West and East Ends of Two Mills play together.

D) The McNabs learn the value of going to school each day.

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. What circumstances lead to Maniac’s reluctance to find a permanent home?

2. When does Maniac run away, and when does he choose not to run away? What is the significance of Maniac’s decision to run away?