At the age of 11, Jeffery Magee runs away. Since his parents had been killed in an accident eight years ago he had been living with his loveless aunt and uncle. So, he runs away. He runs and runs and runs until he stops in Two Mills, Pennsylvania. Magee spends time on both sides of town, looking for a home, for a real family. During that time spent in East End and West End, apparently not noticing that one side is all white and the other is all black, Magee makes several friends and many enemies. Will he find a home? Will this kid, allergic to pizza, ever fit in?
Written by Jerry Spinelli, the realistic fiction book Maniac Magee is a quick read. I very quickly came to love each of the characters, and could hardly set the book down. It talks about friendship, family, racism, enemies and so much more.
I love this part of the book:
" As he passed them, he said, "Hi."
Just that—"Hi"—and he was gone. They stopped, they blinked, they turned,
they started after him, they wondered: Do I know that kid? Because people just didn't' say that to strangers, out of the blue. "
I like it because it is a reminder that it's the little things that leave an impression, that people remember and cherish. It was the lack of those little things that drove Magee to run away from his aunt and uncle, and he determines to include 'little things' in his new life, even if others didn't expect them.
One of the things Maniac Magee made me think about was how an outsider would see my family. What would they notice and appreciate that I've been taking for granted? What about you-- what would an outsider appreciate about your family that you've been taking for granted?
Frindle, a comedy by Andrew Clements for middle school students, tells the story of a boy who changes the name of a 'pen' to 'frindle'. It started as a harmless prank to annoy his teacher, but things start spiraling out of control and the media starts going crazy. Things might not end as smoothly as his ideas from past years, and Nick isn't sure what to do. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't really stop people using 'frindle' instead of 'pen' since the name-change has spread much farther than his school.