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A really neat book. Excellent! Definitely deserving of its Newbery Award. I think I have to give it a 5! I find myself asking, "Why didn't I ever read this before?" I've certainly heard of it for years. My fourth grade daughter just read it at school and loved it. I really enjoyed the narrative voice and style. It starts out almost like a tall tale, but what Maniac really accomplished is better than a legend. So it's a meaningful story that teaches an important lesson without being preachy. The
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It seems this book is either a love it or hate it kind of book. I personally loved it. I think the reason people have an issue with this book is that they think of it as a real book. There are many things that are too far fetched for it to be real and then it rubs people the wrong way. I personally felt it was more of a "tall tale" rather than a real book. A tall tale with some great lessons to be learned.
I liked that Maniac Magee was so oblivious to the social boundaries that the community had ...more
I liked that Maniac Magee was so oblivious to the social boundaries that the community had ...more
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Maniac Magee! At first, I struggled with having to suspend belief regarding how so much was not really believable. However, I came to understand that I needed to look at this story more as a parable with a lot of symbolism. I think a person has to ask a lot of questions about who does this character represent? How are names significant to the story? I think that the story is a lot deeper than just a children's story that would appeal to 12 year old boys.
The obvious c ...more
The obvious c ...more
I read this book several years ago and loved it. just a couple of months ago my 5th grader was assigned to read it for school and it reminded me how much I loved this book. I was at the library last week looking for an audio book and I saw this one and decided it would be fun to listen to it and refresh my memory. Well, I have to say, it has been an absolute pleasure. I had forgotten a lot of it and I have thoroughly enjoyed being reminded of just why I love this book so much!
It's the way that ...more
It's the way that ...more
It was good--would like to see the movie. I agree with the review that I read that said the last line didn't go well with the book.
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I really didn't care for this at all; I thought it was sort of cutesy and gimmicky, and the disconnect set up between the white and black communities made me uncomfortable. Yes, I get that "racism is bad and stupid" was the point of the book, but I didn't like the way it was described. The main character never became real for me, and yes, I get that that was kind of the point too, but that doesn't mean I liked reading about him.
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Mar 18, 2008
Laura
rated it
it was amazing
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review of another edition
Shelves:
middle-grade,
newbery-medal
Mar 18, 2008
Krista the Krazy Kataloguer
marked it as to-read
Aug 05, 2008
Lanica
marked it as to-read
Aug 12, 2009
Ghislaine
added it
