History Literature / ManiacMagee

* [[FantasticRacism Urban Racism]]: The West Enders and the East Enders have this attitude towards each other. It comes to the forefront when Magee is cooling off from the summer heat with a bunch of East Enders, using a burst fire hydrant - an old black man comes up to him and throws racial epithets at him, saying he doesn't belong there, until someone drags the old man away. Maniac leaves that night, and then for good a few weeks later.

* BelligerentSexualTension: Amanda and Mars Bar appear to have shades of this, especially apparent towards the end of the book.
* BigBrotherMentor: Hester and Lester see Maniac this way. He tries to be one to Piper and Russell, as well.

* AngerBornOfWorry: A sizeable portion of how Amanda interacts with Maniac. She loves him like a brother, but he drives her absolutely crazy running off all the time.

* [[spoiler: LonelyFuneral: Maniac is the only mourner at Grayson's funeral, which is little more than just burying the man's dead body in a hole.]]

** [[PunctuatedPounding Punctuated Kicking]]: And she'll go right into this if you ''really'' manage to tick her off.

* HeyItsThatGuy: Jada Pinkett Smith is the narrator of the film adaption of Maniac Magee.
** Rip Torn is George [=McNab=].
** Orlando Brown AKA Cornelius Filmore is Mars Bar.

* TheMessiah: Maniac.

* MemeticBadass: Maniac becomes one {{In-Universe}}, and with good reason. See MemeticMutation below.

* MemeticBadass: Maniac becomes one, and with good reason. See MemeticMutation below.

* TruthInTelevision: A street that divides a community neatly in half? [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17361995 St. Louis has it]]. It's not clear if Spinelli was referring to it specifically.

* ReasonYouSuckSpeech: Amanda is a master. Maniac gets a few for running away, including one she delivers when he's ''not even present''. She yells it at the front door.
* TheRival: Mars Bar to Maniac. It's largely one-sided on Mars Bar's part, though.
* TheRunaway: Maniac.

* BerserkButton: Do ''not'' mess with Amanda Beale's books.

** Maniac gets a similar button with [[spoiler: Grayson's old baseball glove]].

* EmbarrassingNickname: Amanda gives one to Mars Bar at the end of the novel. "How ''bad'' can you be if everyone's calling you ''Snickers?''"

''Maniac Magee'' is a young adult book written by Jerry Spinelli. It features a strange boy named Jeffrey Magee who loses his parents at age three to a trolley accident and is sent to live with his aunt and uncle, who hate each other. He runs away at age eleven and ends up a year later in Two Mills, a town in Pennsylvania that's divided into two sides: The East End, where all the black families live, and West End, with all the white families. Completely ignorant of how the town works, the first person he talks to is a girl on the East End named Amanda Beale, from whom he borrows a book.

As the days go by, Jeffrey is sighted all over town doing incredible things - stealing football passes from high schoolers in the middle of practice, rescuing a boy from the backyard of the creepiest old man in town, and running - ''running'' - on the steel rail of the train tracks. When he tries to return Amanda's book, he simultaneously makes an enemy in Mars Bar Thompson, a kid who doesn't like seeing a white boy in his neighborhood, and finds a home with Amanda Beale's family. Months ago by and Jeffrey makes a name for himself.

But he can't stay in the East End forever.

''Maniac Magee'' is a young adult book written by Jerry Spinelli. It features a strange boy named Jeffrey Magee who loses his parents at age three to a trolley accident and is sent to live with his aunt and uncle, who hate each other, for eight years. He runs away and ends up in Two Mills, a town in Pennsylvania that's divided into two sides: The East End, where all the black families live, and West End, with all the white families.

He then meets [[{{Tsundere}} Amanda Beale]], a [[SassyBlackWoman young, sassy]] girl. She lends him a book and she finds him worming his way into the hearts of her family and herself, while dealing with racial problems in the urban streets.

* ReasonYouSuckSpeech: Amanda is a master.

* [[FantasticRacism Urban Racism]]: The West Enders and the East Enders have this attitude towards each other. It comes to the forefront when Magee is cooling off from the summer heat with a bunch of East Enders, using a burst fire hydrant - an old black man comes up to him and throws racial epithets at him, saying he doesn't belong there, until someone drags the old man away. Maniac leaves a few weeks later.

* LastNameBasis: Earl Grayson, and John [=McNab=] for the most part. The latter averts this in scenes where his father is also present.

* NoAccountingForTaste: Maniac's aunt and uncle have a deep mutual hatred for each other, yet stay together because divorce is against their religion. It's their horrible relationship that finally make Maniac just snap and run as far away as he can from them.

->''Maniac, Maniac, he's so cool!''
->''Maniac, Maniac, don't go to school!''
->''Runs all night, runs all right!''
->''Maniac, Maniac, kissed a bull!''
-->-Jump-rope rhyme

''Maniac Magee'' is a young adult book written by Jerry Spinelli. This book deals with a strange boy named Maniac Magee who starts off with a very crappy childhood. He runs away and tries to find a home, while making a legend of himself in the process. He then meets [[{{Meganekko}} Amanda Beale]], a [[SassyBlackWoman young, sassy]] girl. She lends him a book and she finds him worming his way into the hearts of her family and herself, while dealing with racial problems in the urban streets.

A flim adaption aired in Nicklodeon in 2003, although it was [[LighterAndSofter lighter]] in comparsion with the book.

* [[FantasticRacism Urban Racism]]: The West Enders and the East Enders have this attitude towards each other. It comes to the forefront when Magee is cooling off from the summer heat with a bunch of East Enders, using a burst fire hydrant - an old black man comes up to him and throws racial epithets at him, saying he doesn't belong there, until he runs.
* FirstNameBasis: Amanda, and by extension her whole family, will only address Maniac by his given name. Jeffrey.

* {{Meganekko}}: Amanda.

** Rip Torn is George Mcnab.

* JerkAss: John Mcnab, George Mcnab, Mars Bar for most of the book.

* LastNameBasis: Earl Grayson, and John Mcnab for the most part. The latter averts this in scenes where his father is also present.

* MeaningfulName: Piper Mcnab, whose laughter is like the blast of a truck horn.

* NeverLearnedToRead: Grayson. Maniac decides to teach him, much to his embarrassment.

* [[spoiler: LonelyFuneral: Maniac is the only mourner at Earl Grayson's funeral, which is little more than just burying his dead body in a hole.]]

* HeroicBSOD: Maniac suffers a huge one after [[spoiler:Grayson passes away]].

* TheRival: Mars Bar to Maniac.

* [[FantasticRacism Urban Racism]]: The West Enders and the East Enders have this attitude towards each other.