What Book Did I Like the Best Book Underage of 12?

There is one book that immediately comes to mind, although the memory is foggy, I enjoyed Maniac Magee By Jerry Spinelli as a child. My fifth-grade teacher Ms. Serrano read it to our class. I remember feeling excited when Ms. Serrano would call our class to the reading center. She waited for us to settle down onto the carpet, then she would sit in her special chair, look down at our babyfaces, and begin reading. And when she read, I always relaxed.

I do not know why I loved this book so dearly. The book was different from most things I read, like Dork Diaries or Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Maniac Magee was an orphan boy looking for a home. He goes from east to west, in the segregated United States. I did not understand the parts about segregation and the mistreatment of people of color, but I did understand Jefferey Lionel aka Maniac Magee. Jefferey lost his parents at a young age, causing him to live with his bickering Aunt and Uncle. Till one day, he couldn’t take it and left in the middle of school performance. Jefferey left searching for something, but he did not know what. I always guessed the love he had lost. He found love in the people that took him in, but eventually, he was the one to leave. I remember feeling pangs of sympathy as I watched him struggle. We were both hurt by the actions of adults, even if we couldn’t understand why did it hurt to be un-cared for by the adults in your life.

Maniac had these black and white converse that were falling apart. The soles were coming undone. I believe there was even a hole in his shoe. During the fall that we read Jeffery’s story; I too had a hole in my shoe; I too had “parents” who argued more than they talked. Jeffery and I appeared to the world unloved. We were both missing something. The difference was Jeffery went to great lengths for the missing piece, while I stayed idle in the shadows of my broken home.

Maniac Magee was my friend, and I loved him. All the things I wanted to do or say, I could because Jefferey did it for me. Older me would go on to have these conversations with him, and my other fictional friends, they were parts of me, people who understood me, they listened. He was a character I projected onto even if I didn’t know it. Once during an argument with my eldest sister, I put on my sweater and left the house. I felt like in Jeffery that moment, scared, angry, anxious, but for a split second, I felt free. Jeffery and I needed the same thing when we left our houses, someone to hold us and say that we mattered and that we are loved. I was scared and upset. I didn’t know what to do or where to go, but I knew I wanted to leave. I wanted to be free from my messy family, I wanted the love I saw on TV. I wanted the homes I saw too. I wanted normalcy and comfort. We both craved it.

Ms. Serrano never finished reading Maniac Magee to us. I never knew what became of Jeffery Lionel and his search for a home. I hope that he had found his share of happiness, his share of love. He and I deserved to be loved then and now. Even if I have not thought of Jefferey in years, I will always remember him and me walking home together, even if it was my imagination. He was a friend that understood and I could never forget him and his story.

Final Draft submitted to Professor Laskin 27 August