Maniac+Magee



flat

=Introduction:=

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli Jerry Spinelli official site

Quizlets =Jerry Spinelli=

Interview from Jerry

unit link online unit another on line unit

=Vocabulary= =vocabulary quizlet flashcards=

Vocabulary Review Practice

Summaries:

Chapter Questions: Story Questins Excellent outline with resources

= Figurative Language in Maniac Magee = Hyperbole:

They say he kept an eight-inch cockroach on a leash.

Hyperbole is something that is exaggerated for the purpose of emphasis. What is exaggerated in the quote above? What point do you think Mr. Spinelli is trying to make?

Click to check out information on cockroaches. Record three facts that might be important.

What feelings do they give you? What do you put on a leash? Why would he have a cockroach on a leash? Are cockroaches around here eight inches long?

So, what do you think? What does Mr. Spinelli want us to think about Maniac Magee?

Imagery

They say Maniac Magee was born in a dump. . . and that rats stood guard over him while he slept.

So what does this look like?

What do you see in the dump? (use lots of detail)

Where exactly is Maniac sleeping? Describe his position.

What do you suppose Maniac looks like?

Where are the rats? What do they look like?

Sensory Images
Imagery is strong words that appeals to the senses, words that help us see, hear, feel, and yes, even smell and taste! These words help the reader "imagine" what the experience must be like.

The example above is visual imagery because it shares information we can picture in our head. We can imply some of the other senses, but the words don't necessarily reveal them.

1. . . . just run your hand under your movie seat and be very, very careful. ..

2. . . . his face bright red by now, his neck bulging. The music director faced the singers, frozen with his arms still raised.

3. . . . a leap from the stage, out into the starry, sweet, onion-grass-smelling night.

4. There was a smatter of giggling by people who figured the screaming kid was part of the show. . . Then the giggling stopped. ..

5. . . . a scraggly little kid jogging toward them, the soles of both sneakers hanging by their hinges and flopping open like dog tongues each time they camp up from the pavement.

6. . . . one growing cloud of sauerkraut fumes. ..

Allusions:

Literary and Philosophical References

 * //Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile// (12.19, 13.16)
 * //Mike Mulligan's Steam Shovel// (27.4, 32.6, 32.10)
 * //The Little Engine That Could// (27.4, 28.1)
 * //The Story of Babar// (27.4)

Historical References
Lesson Plan for creating a glogster for figurative language
 * George Washington, (33.11)
 * Willie Mays (25.26, 31.9)

Similes:

A simile is a //comparison// of two //unlike// things that uses the words //like// or //as// in the comparison.

Examine the pictures below carefully. How would you describe the old shoe? What would it be like to wear that shoe for a day? What do that old shoe and the dog have in common?  Now look at the way Jerry Spinelli described the old shoe using a simile:

. . . they say: a scraggly little kid jogging toward them, the soles of both sneakers hanging by their hinges and flopping open like dog tongues each time they came up from the pavement.

Can you see these sneakers on this kid?

Clear Similes in //Maniac Magee // Students can open up to nearly any chapter in //Maniac Magee // and locate a simile. A simile is a direct comparison of two unlike objects using the words //like //<span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;"> or //<span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;">as //<span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;">. Spinelli’s similes are especially effective with middle school students because these similes appeal to the experience and sensibilities of this age group. The following examples of similes perfectly illustrate this point. <span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;">The following quote directly compares a knot to a nest of bees: “To the ordinary person, Cobble’s Knot was about as friendly as a nest of yellowjackets” (70). This simile is easy to comprehend and can be used to first introduce the definition of simile. By using this quote as a quintessential example, students can refer back to it when trying to determine whether a quote illustrates a simile or a metaphor. Teachers should encourage their students to picture this knot and to describe it in their own words based on this simile. <span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;">Complex Similes in //<span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;">Maniac Magee // <span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;">Not all similes are as simple to understand as the one above. This next quote is a more detailed simile comparing the same knot to a hairy planet: “The knot hanging above him like a small hairy planet, the mob buzzing all around him” (72). Middle school students especially enjoy this simile because they can picture the knot in all of its gross and filthy confusion. They may imagine it to be something like a dust bunny –but bound by string. Students might be encouraged to draw a picture of this simile and discuss how similes help readers relate something unknown to something more familiar, thereby gaining deeper meaning. <span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;">A final example of a simile in Maniac Magee is as follows: “Like some fairytale tailor, he threaded the end through the maze, dipping and doodling through openings the way he squiggled a football through a defense” (73). This more complex simile compares Maniac to a fairytale tailor. This simile decribes how he skillfully maneuvers his way through and unravels the seemingly endless and unconquerable knot. <span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;">Analyzing similes are a wonderful way to introduce and interpret figurative language in the middle school classroom. Because Jerry Spinelli uses copious similes throughout //<span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;">Maniac Magee //<span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;">, students should try to seek them out throughout their reading. To highlight the visual nature of these similes, teachers can encourage students to visualize or even draw their interpretation of various similes. Once students clearly understand the form and function of similes in literature, they will be prepared to investigate other common forms of figurative language. Metaphors:

Metaphor
A metaphor is nothing more than a sophistocated simile! It also is a comparison of two unlike things, but it does NOT use like or as. It simply says, or implies, that one thing is the other. . . . the soles of both sneakers hanging by their hinges and flopping open like dog tongues each time they came up from the pavement. || ==The simile turned into a metaphor:== the soles of both sneakers were dog tongues flopping up from the pavement with each step || Now read this quote from the story that contains two metaphors.
 * ==The simile from the simile page:==

They say his stomach was a cereal box and his heart was a sofa spring. How might these things relate to Jeffery's stomach? || What do you know about a sofa spring? When do you usually see them? feel them? How might these things relate to Jeffery's heart? || With these things in mind, what do you think Mr. Spinelli is trying to tell us about Jeffery?
 * Think about the cereal boxes at your house. What do you know about them?

<span style="background-color: #660021; color: #ffffff; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">**// Metaphors //**
<span style="background-color: #660021; color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** pg.16 ** Finsterwald's __backyard was a graveyard__ of tennis balls and baseballs and footballs and frisbees and model airplanes and one-way boomerangs. pg.73 and then at dinnertime, a huge roar went up,__a volcano__ __of cheers.__ ** pg.85 ** A __tiny idea was beginning to worm its way__into Grayson's head. <span style="font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 1.7em;">Understanding figurative language, such as metaphors, is a first step for middle school students to learn the process of analyzing literature. Here's how! <span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; display: block; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif;"> Jerry Spinelli, author of // Maniac Magee // and many other captivating young adult novels, is a master of the metaphor. Dozens of original metaphors are used throughout his novels to pique student interest and help them visualize Spinelli's colorful worlds of fiction. While most students will become engrossed in the intriguing plots and realistic dialogue of // Maniac Magee //, teachers should see this novel as a unique opportunity to also teach figurative language. The abundance of metaphors will help students learn through example, one colorful metaphor at a time.
 * pg.40 ** Amanda took the torn page from Maniac. To her, it was __the broken wing of a bird. a petout in the rain__.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: freight-sans-pro,sans-serif; font-size: 1.6em;">Understanding Metaphors in //Maniac Magee//
W hile similar to similes, metaphors can be a bit more challenging to identify. For one, metaphors do not use the words // like // or // as // to directly suggest a comparison. Instead, metaphors compare two unlike objects through indirect comparison. Careful reading is often required to successfully locate and understand a metaphor. Here are several examples found in // Maniac Magee //. In the following quote, two metaphors exist, “Amanda took the torn page from Maniac. To her, it was the broken wing of a bird, a petout in the rain” (Spinelli 40). First, the torn page from Amanda’s book is being compared to a broken wing; in the next phrase it is being compared to a pet. Both metaphors are combined to create a sad tone; Amanda is clearly heartbroken that her encyclopedia “A” has been abused by the local bully. The deeper significance of this metaphor indicates the fragile nature of books and suggests that humans have a responsibility to respect and protect them as venues of knowledge. Teachers can decide how deeply they want their students to delve into the meaning and function of Spinelli’s abundant metaphors.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: freight-sans-pro,sans-serif; font-size: 1.6em;">Examples of Metaphors in //Maniac Magee//
This next quote is simple, yet poignant. "And then, around dinnertime, a huge roar went up, a volcano of cheers. Cobble's Knot was dead. Undone. Gone. It was nothing but string" (73). In this simple example, a cheering crowd is compared to a volcano without using the word // like // or // as. // Teachers can encourage students to compare a crowd’s cheers to a volcano's eruption. Students may explain that a volcano can lay dormant for a long time and then explode; similarly, a patient crowd may be quietly observant one minute and then simultaneously explode with noise and enthusiasm.This quote is not always easy for students to comprehend, so teachers may want to use this one as a model and explain it to students: “It was after dark when they got back to the baseball equipment room. The worm in Grayson’s head had long since ceased to be a tiny tickle; it was now a maddening itch” (89). Here, an unspoken noun, Grayson’s idea, is first being compared to a worm, then a tickle, then an itch. Students may find this metaphor difficult because Grayson’s idea is never mention directly; they must make an inference to determine the comparison, noting that it cannot be a simile because // like // or // as // is not used in the text.Extended Metaphor in // Maniac Magee // Finally, the following quote may be the most challenging. Students may need some background information about cowboys riding bucking broncos in order to fully understand this comparison: “It reminded him of a bronc some cowboy dared him to ride in his Texas League days. He would saddle up that c, climb aboard and grip the pommel for dear life, and ol’ c, more often than not, it would throw him. Whenever that happened, he’d just climb right back on and ride ‘er some more” (101).In the above quote, Maniac is teaching his friend Grayson how to read. The letter “C” has proven to be a bit tricky and so Grayson is being compared to a cowboy riding a bucking bronco, which is the letter “C.” This entire passage on page 101 is a flawless example of extended metaphor as well as personification because Grayson struggles with vowels as well as consonants as he learns to read for the first time in his life.Learning to identify metaphors and discuss the comparisons being created is a first step toward literary analysis. Middle school students need this type of exposure so that they start to see fiction as multi-faceted. While there is clearly an engaging plot, this novel contains devices that are used to deliberately create an effect on its readers. Students can better understand metaphors and their many functions in a novel by studying a variety of examples, such as the ones discussed above.

Personification:



The P & W [trolley] had its famous crash, when the motorman was drunk and took the high trestle over the Schuylkill River at sixty miles an hour, and the whole kaboodle took a swan dive into the river.

Can a trolley do this? Can you see a person doing a swan dive? Now can you see the trolley doing this? How does saying it this way make a better picture than simply saying the trolley went off the track into the river? ||
 * Personification is language that says a nonliving thing is doing something only a living thing (especially a human living thing) can do. || What is a swan dive?

<span style="background-color: #660021; color: #ffffff; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">//** Personifications **//
<span style="background-color: #660021; color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> ** pg.101 ** __Vowels were somwthing else__. He didn't like them, and __they didn't like him__. ** pg.106 ** For most of November, __winter toyed with__Two Mills, __whispered in its ear, tickled under the chin__. On Thanksgiving Thursday, __winter kicked it in the stomach__. = = = = = Your Task: =
 * pg.112 ** Within an hour or two, __the holiday would____come bounding down the stairs and squeling__round tinsled trees of Two Mills.
 * pg.134 ** __The house flinched.__
 * pg.148 ** __March pounced with cold nasty paws.__
 * pg.149 ** __March doubled back and grabbed April by the scruff of the neck and flung it__ another week or two down the road.

Your Job is to:
1. Find a piece of two different types of figurative language in the book. 2. Create a way of presenting each to the class that - tells what type of figurative language it is - demonstrates the meaning of the language in some way - and explains how it helps the story, and why the author chose to say it this way.

=Theme in Maniac Magee:=

Exposition themes:

Symbolism



1. Abandonment:

2. Family 3. Race:

Food from Maniac Magee As symbolism Using Food to Symbolize Race in Maniac Magee <span style="font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 1.7em;">Jerry Spinelli's use of food in Maniac Magee goes beyond the survival of the protagonist, Jeffrey "Maniac" Magee. Spinelli employs the language of food to construct race. <span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; display: block; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 1.5em;">Spinelli uses food as a metaphor for racial stereotypes and misconceptions. Oftentimes, those misconceptions begin with skin color. Maniac doesn’t describe people with the colors found in a box of basic Crayola crayons. He demonstrates the inaccuracy of labels by comparing the “people colors” of the East End to the colors he sees in food: <span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; display: block; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 1.5em;"> <span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;">“ … he couldn’t figure why these East Enders called themselves black. He kept looking and looking, and the colors he found were gingersnap and light fudge and dark fudge and acorn and butter rum and cinnamon and burnt orange. But never licorice, which, to him, was real black” (Spinelli 51).

<span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #333333; font-family: freight-sans-pro,sans-serif; font-size: 1.6em;">The Relationship Between Skin Color and Food

<span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;">Manic also loved the “warm brown” of Mrs. Beale’s thumb and how it looked under the creamy white icing she allowed Maniac to lick while she was frosting his favorite cake (Spinelli 51-2). In the book //<span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;">The Essential Guide to Children’s Books and Their Creators //<span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;">(Houghton Mifflin, 2002), <span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #539c8d; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px; text-decoration: none;">[|Spinelli] <span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;"> explains how, as a child, he related people’s skin color with food. Spinelli describes a trip to see Dr. Winters – his mother’s dentist – when he was a few years old:

<span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;">“His skin was Hershey Bar brown. I must have been acting jealous of the attention my mother was getting, because … (he) gave me my very own check-up. It’s one of the first moments I remember about my life: Dr. Winters’s brown fingers inside my mouth” (Silvey 620).

<span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;">Nearly 50 years later, Spinelli’s memory of that experience landed in Maniac Magee.

<span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #333333; font-family: freight-sans-pro,sans-serif; font-size: 1.6em;">The Significance of the Icing Ritual

<span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;">The closeness Maniac shares with Mrs. Beale demonstrates he’s part of the family, and he identifies that “creamy white icing” and the “warm brown of Mrs. Beale’s thumb” with home and acceptance. When the old black man tells him to go home, Maniac notices the brown finger pointed at him with no icing on it, and he recognizes the difference between love and hate (Spinelli 60).

<span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;">The icing ritual is a powerful reminder of home for Maniac. When he’s with Grayson, Maniac eats butterscotch icing and wishes he were licking it from Mrs. Beale’s finger and not his own. Maniac wants to love and be loved, and he associates Mrs. Beale’s love with her cooking and all its colors.

<span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;">The icing is a metaphor for family and acceptance of Maniac, but it also demonstrates that life is more enjoyable when races and families work together, not separately. The dichotomy of color presented in the ritual Maniac shares with Mrs. Beale demonstrates how different they are on the outside, yet they can happily coexist as a family.

<span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #333333; font-family: freight-sans-pro,sans-serif; font-size: 1.6em;">The Meaning Behind the Metaphors

<span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;">In these examples, Spinelli uses food colors to convey that labels often misrepresent what they describe. Just as everyone needs food to survive, Spinelli shows the importance of recognizing everyone’s uniqueness and resisting stereotypes in order to coexist.

Binding Family with Food in Maniac Magee

<span style="font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 1.7em;">Jerry Spinelli uses food to bind familial and caretaker relationships with Jeffrey "Maniac" Magee and other characters in the novel Maniac Magee.

<span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; display: block; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 1.5em;">Food helps establish and illustrate the bond between Grayson and Maniac in various stages of their relationship. When Maniac wakes up in the band shell, Grayson feeds him soup, a common comfort food served by parents and caretakers to a sick person (Spinelli 81). And every morning, Grayson left Maniac money to buy Krimpets (Spinelli 98). Grayson cares for Maniac much like a parent who leaves lunch money for his child. Maniac and Grayson evolve into a family through the regularity of [|food sharing]. The two eventually eat breakfast, lunch and dinner together every day. Maniac depends on this constancy for his emotional well-being. They also celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas together with food rituals. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: freight-sans-pro,sans-serif; font-size: 1.6em;">Food as a Metaphor to Construct Family and Caretaker Relationships <span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; display: block; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 1.5em;">Mrs. Pickwell’s whistle invites Maniac to share a meal with the Pickwells. They’re welcoming and no one questions Maniac’s identity until after the meal. When he’s running from the Cobras, he sees the house “where he had eaten spaghetti” and thinks “he could go there, to the whistling mother, the other kids, be safe” (Spinelli 31). That simple act of food sharing helps create a safe haven for Maniac that he will return to later for both nourishment and care. The types of food the adults serve are metaphors for the quality of care they provide their families. Mr. McNab provides poorly for his sons: “His hands were nearly pure black. Stale body odor mingled with that of fries and burgers coming from the Burger King bag he held. Dropping the bag next to the bird remains, he bellowed “Chow!” and took a beer from the fridge ... ”(Spinelli 132). Mr. McNab does not provide a loving, nurturing environment for his children. He serves fast food to his children with dirty hands. Even though he's providing for them, it's evident he doesn't do it well or lovingly, based on these actions. He’s a poor caregiver. Conversely, Mrs. Beale and Mrs. Pickwell are nurturing parents who serve hot, home-cooked meals such as spaghetti and meatloaf. They put their love into their work. But the type of meal also means something. Meals such as meatloaf and spaghetti are typically shared with one another. They’re prepared and served in one container and passed around so that everyone can take from the larger unit. The portions, when combined together, form one meal for everyone — just like the members within a family, together, form one familial group. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: freight-sans-pro,sans-serif; font-size: 1.6em;">Sharing a Basic Need for Food <span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; display: block; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 1.5em;">Even Elmwood Park Zoo is more civilized than the McNab house, where Maniac has lived for three months without Mr. McNab knowing his name (Spinelli 151). Conversely, at the zoo, Maniac is part of the community. Maniac ate carrots, apples and hamburger buns just like the deer (Spinelli 29). Bonding occurs when Maniac and the deer and buffalo eat and sleep together. The animals are his family when he feels isolated from the rest of the world. Eating together helps reinforce that bond between Maniac and the animals, because in spite of their differences, they share a basic need for food, just like the human characters in the novel.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: freight-sans-pro,sans-serif; font-size: 3em;">The Symbolism of Pizza in Maniac Magee <span style="font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 1.7em;">Jerry Spinelli's creation of a character who's allergic to pizza in the book Maniac Magee relates to the main character's past. <span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;">Maniac’s allergy surfaces when he’s taking a bath with Hester and Lester Beale. The intimacy of sharing a bath with the children demonstrates that Maniac is indeed part of the family circle. His position in the Beale family is quite different from where he stood at Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan’s. A circle of sharing and community didn't exist at his former home. Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan hated one another but wouldn't divorce. Pizza serves as a metaphor for the painful aspect of Maniac’s search for a family. Maniac has never eaten pizza before he stays with the Beales. Because he was only three when his parents died, he probably doesn't remember having a family before Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan. <span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #333333; font-family: freight-sans-pro,sans-serif; font-size: 1.6em;">The Pizza Allergy as a Metaphor <span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;">Once he finally becomes part of a nurturing family, his allergy surfaces. His <span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #539c8d; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px; text-decoration: none;">[|pizza allergy] <span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;"> is a metaphor for the protection mechanism he’s using to keep from getting hurt. He wants to have a family, but he can’t control his urge to protect himself from being hurt again. Much like an allergy, this urge can’t be prevented — it can only be treated. Yes, “Maniac love[s] his new life,” but something inside is holding him back (Spinelli 50). In the book //<span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;">The Essential Guide to Children’s Books and Their Creators //<span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;"> (Houghton Mifflin, 2002), Spinelli explains how Maniac “elects homelessness rather than endure the pain of family relationships” as a way of protecting himself (Silvey 232). <span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #333333; font-family: freight-sans-pro,sans-serif; font-size: 1.6em;">Pizza as a Symbol of the Family Circle <span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;">When Maniac cares for Russell and Piper, he offers pizza to the boys to lure them back home, to go to school and to do their homework. In this way, Maniac, a father figure, offers the children the circle of a family, which doesn't exist before Maniac’s arrival at the McNab’s. Ironically, when he unties the knot at Cobble’s Corner Grocery in an attempt to gain acceptance within the East End community, Maniac’s reward is free pizza for a year, which he can’t eat. But the pizza doesn’t bring him together with the community. After the race, when both the white and black gangs taunt him, “Maniac Magee walked — not ran — right on out of town” (Spinelli 76). In this way, the pizza also serves as a metaphor for rejection by Two Mills that signifies he will not gain universal acceptance there. <span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #333333; font-family: freight-sans-pro,sans-serif; font-size: 1.6em;">The Allergy’s Effect on the Perception of Maniac <span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;">The pizza metaphor is complicated, but its meaning on the surface is easier for children to digest. What is obvious is that his allergy sets him apart: “Some kids don’t like a kid who is different. Such as a kid who is allergic to pizza. … Or a kid who’s another color” (Spinelli 58). Here, the pizza allergy is a metaphor that demonstrates that Maniac is different from his peers — something <span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #539c8d; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px; text-decoration: none;">[|children readily notice] <span style="background-color: #f9f9f8; color: #3d3d3e; font-family: ff-meta-serif-web-pro,serif; font-size: 21px;">.

1. Krimpets

Homemade Butterscotch Krimpets June 29, 2009 in [|Cakes], [|Recipes] [|32 Comments]

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px;"> If you’re from the Philadelphia area, I probably don’t have to tell you what [|Tastykakes] are. For those of you who aren’t, Tastekakes are a regional brand of packaged snack cakes. Fans of these cakes will say that they’re better than those other brands (Hostess, etc), and I think they might be right. Tastykakes come in a wide variety of flavors, many of which are unique to the brand, and usually taste fresh and moist. I’ve made a homemade version of their [|Peanut Butter Kandy Kakes] before, and this time around I decided to tackle Tastykake’s Butterscotch Krimpets, which are simple vanilla cakes that have a butterscotch icing. Snack cakes, whether you’re taking Twinkies or Tastykakes, almost always have a sponge cake base. Sponge cake is more resilient (less crumbly) than butter cakes are and often stays moister, longer. I used a similar sponge cake base that I used to make my previous [|peanut butter Tastykakes], adding in some brown sugar to give the cakes themselves a little bit of a butterscotch flavor. The sponge cakes are made by beating lots of air into whole eggs, then folding in flour and finally mixing in hot milk and butter. The sponge turns out to be very light and moist. It’s nice on its own, with notes of butter, milk, brown sugar and vanilla, but a little on the plain side without the flavorful icing. It is very similar – although perhaps a bit better – to the taste and texture of a regular snack cake. Most butterscotch icings rely on butterscotch chips to infuse them with flavor, and this is no exception. The frosting is very sweet, but since it is spread on in only a very thin layer on the cake, everything balances out by the time you go to eat it. I also tempered the frostings’ sweetness by mixing in a good-sized pinch of salt. The cakes had a great butterscotch flavor and tasted fresh, moist and delicious. My tasters – a couple of Philly natives – said that they felt that this was what a butterscotch krimpet was supposed to taste like. I’m not sure about that myself, but they’re very good. The wavy shape I cut mine into was achieved by carving the sides with a knife to match the look of the packaged krimpets. You can come close by using [|Wilton’s ZigZag Cutter], but can also cut the bars into squares or rectangles for simplicity’s sake.

**Homemade Butterscotch Krimpets**

//**For cake**//

4 large eggs, room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 cup light brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup milk (low fat is fine)

2 tbsp butter, softened

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 17x11x1-in. jelly-roll pan (15×10 is fine) and line the bottom with parchment paper. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together eggs and sugars until thick and pale, 3-5 minutes. Beat in vanilla.

While that is beating (or before, if you’re not using a stand mixer), heat milk and butter in a small saucepan or in the microwave until the butter has just melted and the milk is steaming, but not boiling. Remove from heat and set aside.

Gradually sift flour and baking powder into the beaten egg mixture and mix at low speed until just combined. With the mixer running, still at a low speed, slowly stream in the milk/butter mixture until batter is uniform.

Pour batter into prepared pan, spreading it out evenly, and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350F. Cake is done when a tester comes out clean and the top is golden and springs back when touched lightly. Let cake cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn the cake out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

When cake is cooled, spread the butterscotch frosting onto it in a thin, even layer.

Store leftovers in an airtight container. Makes about 30 krimpets. //**Butterscotch Frosting**//

1/3 cup butterscotch chips

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

2 tbsp milk

1/4 tsp salt Melt butterscotch chips and butter together in a medium sized, microwave safe bowl. Whisk to combine, and set aside for a few minutes to cool to room temperature.

Beat butterscotch mixture with confectioners sugar, 2 tbsp milk and 1/4 tsp salt. If frosting is too thin, add additional confectioners’ sugar to make it spreadable. 2. Zeps

What is a Zep?

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">What is a zep? The sandwich has been a regional favorite since the 1940′s, but a large amount of Philadelphia-area residents surprisingly have never heard of it before. Though the sandwiches true origins are up to speculation, all signs point to the name coming directly from the Hindenburg zeppelin. Made with only one meat, provolone cheese, tomatoes, and raw onion, on crusty Italian bread, the zep has stayed tried and true through all these years.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">media type="custom" key="23825474"

<span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">Eve's Famous Zeps from 1 hoagie roll <span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">2 slices provolone cheese <span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">1 slice onion <span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">1 slice Tomato <span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">4 slices salami <span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">1 tablespoon salad oil <span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">hot pepper <span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">Directions:

<span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">1 <span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">You take the hoagie roll and slice it apart. <span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">2 <span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">put salad oil on both sides. <span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">3 <span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">then put slice of cheese on both sides. <span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">4 <span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">next comes the meat. <span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">5 <span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">slice the onion thick and put ontop of meat. <span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">6 <span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">then top with a tomato slice. <span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">7 <span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">salt and pepper opt. <span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">8 <span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">put it together and you have one of eve's famous zeps. <span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">9 <span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">the hotter the pepper the better hubby says. <span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">10 <span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">but I feel, any hot pepper will do.

<span style="background-color: #e6e1c1; color: #333333; font-family: arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;">Read more: <a href="http://www.food.com/recipe/eves-zep-164277?oc=linkback">http://www.food.com/recipe/eves-zep-164277?oc=linkback</a> =Characters:=



Mars Bar: Qestions about Mars Bar

The Best of Their Race: The Pickwells and the Beales.

=Setting:= Pennsylvania What does Pennsylvania look like?

Bridgeport





Hollidayburg







Two Mills



Where East Enders and West Enders Meet in Two Mills. However, do they dare cross? East End









West End The Pickwells <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,'Liberation Sans',FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline;">The intriguing thing about the Pickwell children's names is that, apparently, they all start with a "D." <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,'Liberation Sans',FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline;">There are ten Pickwell children, and, as far as I can see, the names of six of them begin with the letter "D." In Chapter 6, the author mentions "baby** Didi **" as one of the many people who have dinner at the house every night, and a few paragraphs later, five of the other children are helping with the dishes and having a conversation about the unidentified guest who has just graced their dinner table. > "** Dominic ** Pickwell (says) to ** Duke ** Pickwell, 'Who's that kid?' > 'What kid?' (says) Duke. > 'The kid next to you at the table.' > 'I don't know. I thought ** Donald ** knew him.' > 'I don't know him,' said Donald. 'I thought ** Dion **knew him.' > 'Never saw him,' said Dion. 'I figured he was ** Deirdre **'s new boyfriend.'" <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,'Liberation Sans',FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline;">So the author reveals to us that, of the ten Pickwell children, six of them have names that begin with "D" - Didi, Dominic, Duke, Donald, Dion, and Deirdre. I do not believe that he ever tells us what the last four Pickwell children are named; we are left to speculate if, as perhaps seems likely but not certain, that the last four children also have names that begin with the letter "D," and if so, what these names are. How is Maniac able to each spaghetti at their house? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,'Liberation Sans',FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline;">There are ten Pickwell children, and at dinnertime each day, Mrs. Pickwell opens her back screen door and lets out a distinctive whistle which all the children recognize. They come running in to eat from every corner of the neighborhood, "from the dump, from the creek, from the tracks, from Red Hill". In addition, the family is of the sort that is "always helping out somebody", so visitors at mealtime are taken as a matter of course. On the night in question, Jeffrey manages just to slip in with the Pickwell children when they respond to the call to dinner; there are, at that particular meal, in addition to the ten children, "the parents, the baby, three grandparents and great-grandparents, and "a down and out taxi driver whom Mr. Pickwell was helping out" seated around the Ping-Pong table where Mrs. Pickwell feeds spaghetti to her "small nation". Accustomed to commotion and extra mouths at suppertime, and no one thinks to ask who "that kid" is until after the meal is over. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,'Liberation Sans',FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline;">When Dominic Pickwell does finally think to inquire of his brother as to the identity of the kid who sat next to them at the table, Jeffrey is long gone. The Pickwell kids each figured that he was the friend of one or the other of their many siblings, and by the time they realize that no one actually knew the quiet visitor and rush out to see where he went, they can only catch a glimpse of him in the distance, running with a book in his hand along the railroad tracks (Chapter 6).

What did the mystery dinner guest do that angered the Pickwell children and caused them to blink and

squint?

Finsterwald's house <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica;">This mysterious house strikes fear in many of the children of Two Mills, yet Magee sees it as just another house.

Uncle Dan and Aunt Dot's code Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan lived in Hol- lidaysburg, in the western part of Pennsylvania. Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan hated each other, but because they were strict Catholics, they wouldn't get a divorce. Around the time Jeffrey arrived, they stopped talking to each other. Then they stopped sharing. Pretty soon there were two of everything in the house. Two bathrooms. Two TVs. Two refrigerators. Two toasters. If it were possible, they would have had two Jeffreys. As it was, they split him up as best they could. For instance, he would eat dinner with Aunt Dot on Monday, with Uncle Dan on Tuesday, and so on. code

The Lost Years: 1. Explain "The Lost Year."

// "The Lost Year" is the extra fifty-one weeks it took Jeffrey to go to Two Mills." // The Beales

The McNabs

The bandshell The buffalo pin media type="custom" key="23826302"

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff5900; font-family: 'Open Sans',Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.5;">**Maniac Magee Setting** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',Helvetica,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Where It All Goes Down <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',Helvetica,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif;">Say Hey!
We don't get a nice clear date thrown at us anytime in //Maniac//, but we do get a handy dandy reference to one [|Mr. Willie Mays]. It turns out Grayson pitched to the [|Say Hey] kid back in his own heyday, so we know it's after the 1960s. Also, besides a TV here and there, technology is noticeably absent. So Maniac takes place at some point in the second half of the twentieth century, //after// the greatest player in the history of baseball has retired, and //before// iPhones. (And maybe even before [|Walkmen] .)

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',Helvetica,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif;">Double Your Mills, Double Your Fun
Maniac spends time in various locations throughout Pennsylvania. He's born in [|Bridgeport], lives in [|Hollidaysburg] , but the most important place to his story: good old Two Mills. (Hint: not a real town.) But it's not that simple. See, Two Mills has Hector Street. On the West side of Hector Street is the West End. And on the East side of Hector Street is ... come on, you can do it! ... the East End! These aren't just neighborhoods; they're the key to your entire identity—your family, your friends, and even the name of your gang. It all comes down to the color of your skin: "The East End was blacks, the West End was whites." (3.20). Maniac is the exception to this rule. Maniac is both an East and West Ender at various points, though we have to say, drama doesn't care which side of Hector he's on: it follows him no matter what.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',Helvetica,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif;">728 Sycamore, 101 Bandshell Boulevard and Casa McNab
Can you imagine what it would be like to be in fifth grade without an address? That's Maniac's situation after he runs away from his aunt and uncle, and he becomes pretty obsessed with something most of us don't spend too much time thinking about. 728 Sycamore Street is the first loving home Maniac finds—annoying siblings, strict parents and all. That home is pre-fabricated, just waiting for him to step in and claim his palace. But Maniac makes 101 Bandshell Boulevard a home with his attitude, some books, a lot of love, and a little paint: //He opened the can, stirred the paint, put a jacket on, grabbed the brush and went outside. Grayson followed. He watched the kid paint on the outside of the door, in careful strokes: 101. Maniac stepped back, admiring his work. 'One oh one,' he proclaimed. 'One oh one Band Shell Boulevard//. (29.21-22) What does this tell us? For Maniac, setting isn't just an important thing; it's //the// thing. Without a home, there's no reason to live.

= Events: =

1. Stick Ball or Should We Call It "Frog Ball"? media type="custom" key="23826372"

media type="custom" key="23826396"

2. Knots: Cobble’s Knot Challenge

Maniac Magee was given the ultimate challenge to prove himself – he faced the infamous

Cobble’s Knot. Hundreds of people had tried to untie it, but only Maniac had the patience and skill

to accomplish the feat.

Challenge: Make a knot that would be a worthy opponent of Maniac himself!

You will be using an online resource to find step-by-step instructions on how to make all different

kinds of knots. Use as many or as few types of knots as you wish; your end goal is to make your

knot as difficult to untie as possible.

Internet Resource: www.2020site.org/knots/

When all of your knots are complete, we will have an Untying Face-Off!

Checklist

Get materials (3 pieces of rope maximum)

Browse the internet resource for different kinds of knots to use media type="custom" key="23826154"



Make your knot

Give it a title

Make a title card and place it and your knot on the presentation table 3. Polka:

First Polka Step: media type="custom" key="23826528" Polka Dance Closed Position: media type="custom" key="23826538" Polka Promenade Position: media type="custom" key="23826552" Heel and Toe: media type="custom" key="23826492"

Basic Partner Move: media type="custom" key="23826450"