The Makings of Maniac Magee

A fun read full of laughs and lessons.

Maniac Magee

Author: Jerry Spinelli

Number of pages: 184

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Age range: 7 years and older

A 1991 Newbery award winner, Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli is on many schools’ summer reading lists. From my point of view, however, this must-read story is an excellent choice for pleasure reading due to its wonderful humor and valuable life lessons.

The story takes place in Two Mills where a 12-year-old orphan named Jeffery Lionel—also known as a legend in the making—wanders around town doing incredible things.

As he grows more and more popular, people begin talking about the crazy things he does. For example, he hits the world’s first “frogball” and scores 49 touchdowns in one football game. That, in fact, is how he gets the nickname Maniac Magee.

Tensions between the races in town confuse poor Jeffery, but the kindness of his heart and his innocence allow him to break the barrier between the white people from the West End and the black people from the East End. Not only does Maniac Magee become a local hero, along the way he gets a new, loving family, and manages to change the lives of all the new people he meets—not to mention his own as well.

This story is one of my favorites because it is a heart warming tale that makes you laugh and cry, while teaching you that anyone can make a difference, even a raggedy orphan.

“Legends are made, not born,” says the author, and he is so right!

—Maria Ordonez

PHOTO: Book Cover Courtesy Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

School in a Garden

Miami elementary learns in outdoor classroom.

Students in the Pangaea Program at Sunset Elementary in Miami, Florida, have taken their classrooms outside.

Pangaea is Sunset’s gifted program for advanced science and math classes. In 2008, Sunset Elementary's Pangaea Program received a $10,000 grant from the Department of Education to create an outdoor classroom. We call it, the Pangaea Garden.

The garden was created to teach students about preserving the environment. The work was done by teachers, students, parent volunteers, and community members.

Some people may think that the Pangaea Garden is a boring place full of greenery. But the students at Sunset Elementary beg to differ. We think of this place as a sanctuary where children can truly learn about the wonders of life.

This fascinating place is full of native trees as well as exotic flowers. It also has a lovely pond with tons of vegetation and life hidden beneath the water. This is where the environmental activities take place during Earth Day celebrations.

Earth Day in Pangea Garden features multiple activities to teach kids about caring for the Earth. The children are divided into groups and each group is assigned to an activity. After a while, the groups rotate so that at the end of the day each group has participated in each of the games and experiments.

Some of these activities include learning about composting and how earthworms help the soil. To learn these things in a fun way, the students try composting, smell and pick herbs, experiment with and handle bugs and earthworms. We also test the pond’s PH levels.

Pangea Garden has been a part of the lives of Sunset Elementary students for two years now—and we are still learning from it!

—Maria Ordoñez

PHOTOS: (TOP) Students at Sunset Elementary in Miami, Florida, celebrate Earth Day in Pangea Garden, an outdoor classroom. (BOTTOM) Earthworms are part of the fun and learning in Sunset Elementary's outdoor classroom, called Pangea Garden. (Photos Courtesy Maria Ordoñez)