Maniac Magee Sample Answers



Maniac Magee Sample Answers

O Reading Chapters 14-21

1. Ch. 14- Maniac loved many things about his new life. A few of these things include “…the new quietness of his footsteps as he trotted Bow Wow through the early morning streets”, “…he also loved the noise, which came later in the day”, “…the Fourth of July block party,…”, “…the colors of the East End, the people colors”.

2. Ch. 14- Maniac couldn’t figure out why East Enders called themselves “black” because “…the colors he found were gingersnap and light fudge and dark fudge and acorn…”. Maniac did not understand the idea of calling everyone just one color because of their skin when he believed that everyone was different.

3. Ch. 15- Little kids brought their knots to Maniac because he had gained a reputation for being able to untie any knot. “They had heard about him from Hester and Lester. They had heard he could untie a sneaker knot quicker than a kid could spend a quarter.” Maniac had become famous for completing difficult tasks like undoing knots.

4. Ch. 15- When Jeffrey brought his trash talk home Mrs. Beale did not like having it in the house. “So she put a stop to it right then and there and slapped that trash-talking mouth.” This quote illustrates that Mrs. Beale would not stand to have trash talk in her house and decided to discipline Maniac for using such language. Maniac’s reaction to her slap was unusual. “…he was hugging and squeezing her and burying his face in her chest and sobbing, ‘I love you… I love you…’” which indicates that he appreciated being reprimanded, or disciplined, by Mrs. Beale. She was acting like his parent by handing down this punishment, and a parent is something he wants.

5. Strategy Focus: Predicting- Answers will vary.

6. Ch. 16- Maniac was sort of blind to the dislike that was around him. The East Enders did not like having a white kid on the black side of town. “He could see these things, but he couldn’t see what they meant. He couldn’t see that Mars Bar disliked him…”. Other East Enders disliked Maniac as much as Mars Bar including the old man who confronts him on the street. They do not think Maniac belongs with them. (Continue answering the other parts to this question from your own experience.)

7. Ch. 17- Metaphor practice

8. Ch. 17- The man at the block party called Maniac “Whitey”. He kept telling Maniac to “…go back to your own kind”. This means that the old man was insisting that Maniac leave the East End and return to the West End where all the other white people lived. The old man was telling Maniac that he did not belong on the East End of town because of his different skin color.

9. Ch. 17- Maniac wanted to leave the Beales’ house because he felt that the things that were being done or said by East Enders to get him to leave were causing the Beales to be hurt. When Mars Bar writes “Fishbelly Go Home” on the side of the house, it hurts Mrs. Beale because she has to scrub it off the wall, and when Mars Bar rips up Amanda’s book, Maniac knows that Amanda’s prized possession is ruined just because Maniac is a white kid living with the Beales.

10. Ch. 18-19- Amanda saw how successful Maniac was at untying sneaker and yo-yo string knots and thought Maniac would easily be able to untie Cobble’s Knot. She knew “…he could untie a sneaker knot quicker than a kid could spend a quarter.” Amanda knew that conquering Cobble’s Knot would be a huge accomplishment. On page 69, Amanda tells Maniac, “…you’ll be the biggest hero ever around here and nooo-body’ll mess with you then”. By developing this plan, Amanda was hoping to ensure that Maniac would be liked by more people.

11. Ch. 19- Years ago, Mr. Cobble ran Cobble’s Corner Grocery Store at the corner of Hector and Birch. The grocery store was not making very much money, so when Mr. Cobble saw the unusual knot hanging in the store window one morning he decided to use it to promote his business. Over the years The Knot had defeated all challengers, so the prize had increased from 60 seconds alone at the candy counter to one free pizza a week for a whole year.

12. Ch. 20- Maniac took a nap in the middle of untangling the knot because he needed to focus and concentrate. “Maniac knew what the rest of them didn’t: the hardest part was yet to come…He would need the touch of a surgeon, the alertness of an owl, the cunning of three foxes, and the foresight of a grand master in chess”. Maniac knew that the best way to get all this brain power was to be rested, so he took a nap!

13. Ch. 20- A loud roar went up around dinnertime because Maniac had defeated Cobble’s Knot. “Cobble’s Knot was dead. Undone. Gone”. Maniac had been successful at the challenge and the town of Two Mills was yelling and cheering to support him.

14. Ch. 21- The homemade confetti that was thrown at the celebration was Amanda’s Encyclopedia A. She found scraps of the book with “…printing on it, about Africa…another…mentioned ants…Another: Aristotle”. Amanda blamed herself for the destruction of her beloved book. “’It was my fault,’ she sobbed. ‘I got careless.’”. Amanda blames herself because she does not want Maniac to feel like his presence caused her hurt.

15. Ch. 21- Maniac headed to the other side of town because so many people had been telling him to go back to the West End. Mars Bar had written “Fishbelly Go Home” on the Beales’ wall, and the old man had told Maniac to “…go back where you belong”. These are very clear signs that Maniac was disliked by the East Enders.

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