#maniac magee

My Side of the Mountain — inside a tree in the Catskills

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler — the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art

Maniac Magee — inside a buffalo house in the zoo, in a baseball stadium, and more places in and around a town where he solves racism

The Invention of Hugo Cabret — a grand Parisian train station, as excellently brought to screen by Scorsese

notabookbut The Kings of Summer — a homemade shanty in the Ohio woods

Last Sam’s Cage — the Calgary Zoo but before the renovations into how I knew it growing up

The Boxcar Children — a freight car

I started this back in June but then life got busy again...books of the summer will be out soon, but for now: here's some books I read way back in April and May that I think other people should read too!

Maniac Magee (Jerry Spinelli): I think I read this when I was a kid, but long enough ago that I forgot most of it. Anyway, picked it up at a thrift store to put in the camp bookshelf of free books to borrow/take, and wanted to (re)read it first. It's good! A good book for kids (or adults) to read. Silly and exaggerated in the way good middle grade fiction is, but also about racism and family and having a home. Sweet, and a good way to get you thinking.

The Right Sort of Man (Allison Montclair): Yet another first in a historical mystery series, this one following a pair of women who have started their own business in post-WWII London - a matchmaking agency. Except they also keep getting caught up in solving murder mysteries. I enjoyed it; the dialogue and actions are snappy and funny, but the characters also have and acknowledge real struggles (they go to therapy! unusual in a 1950s-set book but handled realistically). I have now read through the latest published book and look forward to more.

Tomboy (Liz Prince): A graphic novel memoir of the author's gender experiences. Not earth-shattering, but I have long enjoyed a book that makes me feel less alone in my own experience of gender. Obviously I'm not exactly Liz Prince (for one thing, based on the illustrations, she's maybe willing to wear skirts as an adult but wasn't as a kid? And I am the exact opposite) but a lot of what she had to say struck home for me. And it's good for books to exist that showcase a small part of the diverse ways people are.

First of all, the only thing I remembered from the book was Cobbler’s Knot and I was convinced it was at the end of the book, but it’s only at the end of the first part, so now I’m wondering if I actually read the whole thing the first time or not.

Secondly, Jerry Spinelli’s writing about family and inner feelings was as amazing as it always is (except for Stargirl, but I think if Stargirl were actually the main character it would’ve worked). 

The race plotline, however, was too much. It was too much for the book. At the same time, I don’t see the book working without the split town and Maniac going between them.