Maniac Magee, by Jerry Spinelli Newbery Award Winner Book #2

 I love Jerry Spinelli! I have read several of his books before Maniac Magee, and I am big fan of his writing!  Jeffrey Magee became an orphan at age 3 after his parents were killed by a drunk driver.  Jeffrey was sent to live with his uncle and aunt, which he hated because of their hatred toward each other. After having enough of their arguing and fighting, Jeffrey ran away, and when I say "ran" I mean he literally ran away to the town of Two Mills which was 200 miles away. Even though Two Mills is close to his home of Bridgeport, PA all is not well in their community.  Hector Street was used as a divider for a racial war, whites lived in the West End and the blacks lived in the East End of town. Through his adventure in Two Mills, Jeffrey meets some friends in Amanda Beale and her African-American family, Earl Grayson a washed up minor league baseball pitcher, he becomes a legend by hitting home runs off John Mcnab, and stands up to Mars Bar the East End bully.  Through all of his adventures though, Jeffrey just really want to find out who he is, he wants to be loved and have a family, something his uncle and aunt could not do. I highly recommend this book to young readers, it reaches out to some tough issues like death, divorce, homelessness, and finding out who you are along the way.  This book addresses a lot of issues that our students go through on a daily basis, and even though it is sad, they have to deal with growing up along with surviving.  I really like how Spinelli wrote Jeffrey's character.  He took this troubled kid, and turned him into a success story, which unfortunately does not happen near enough. This story has a great message, and I truly believe it is a book that many students will like, and place on the "favorites" shelf.