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Jeffrey Magee is born
Jeffrey Magee was born in Bridgeport to his two parents. -
Jeffrey Magee's parent die
Jeffrey's parents were involved in a trolley crash, and both died. Jeffrey was sent to live with his Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan in Hollidaysburg Pennsylvania, who did not get along and made living in their house very difficult. -
Jeffrey Magee runs away
Jeffrey screamed at his Aunt and Uncle to get along during a school musical. He then ran out of the building with rage and, after living with them for 8 years, never came back. -
Jeffrey Magee meets Amanda
Jeffrey sparked a conversation with a stranger, Amanda, as he was walking though Two Mills one day, asking if she was running away because she was holding a suitcase. She said no, and that the suitcase was actually full of books. After lots of begging and promises to give the book back, Jeffrey got to borrow a book. This is possible foreshadowing that he will need to meet Amanda again one day, or stay in the same town so he can give the book back. -
Jeffrey plays football
Jeffrey, with the book still in his hand, wondered to the high school football field. He intercepted a throw from some of the boys playing, and took off down the field. Once he got to the opposite end, he punted the ball back to the original intended receiver, and sped off, leaving everyone near by amazed. -
Jeffrey saves Arnold Jones from Finsterwald's property.
The Finsterwald's property was known to the town as a place that if entered, would change someone from happy and bright to poor and raggedy. Jeffrey watched as Arnold Jones was dropped into the property by some high school bullies. Arnold was unable to move out of fear, and when Jeffrey approached him, he fainted. Jeffrey picked him up, and removed him from the backyard, onto the front porch. Once alert again, Arnold took off. -
Jeffrey joins Mrs. Pickwell for dinner
At five o'clock everyday, Mrs. Pickwell calls in her family for dinner. As everyone was bringing their dishes to the kitchen, they realized that a stranger, Jeffrey, had snuck in and ate dinner with them. When recognized, Jeffrey vanished. -
Jeffrey plays baseball
McNab, one of the kids that played baseball, had just finished striking out 16 batters. To boost his ego, he had each of them step up to the plate again, just so he could strike them out a few more times. Jeffrey then stepped up to the plate and hit the ball to second base, then deep left center, then over the fence 4 times. Following this, McNab secretly grabbed a frog and threw it for a pitch. Jeffrey bunted it, then ran all the way around the bases as McNab chased the frog around the field. -
Maniac eats a Mars Bar
Maniac strolled through the town, unaware of any sort of racial tension, and was stopped by a kid that went by Mars Bar, who interrogated him. Mars Bar then asked Maniac if he wanted a bite of his bar and, not knowing that it was forbidden, agreed and took a bite. Mars Bar was stunned that Jeffrey would do such a thing, and grabbed Jeffrey's book out of anger. When grabbing it back, a page got ripped out. This implies there might be a continuing tension between the two boys. -
The Cobras chase Jeffrey
Jeffrey is now known as Maniac because of the past events. The Cobras, made up of McNab and his friends, found Maniac and chased after him while throwing stones. They chased him into Hector Street, the street that divided the East and West, or black and whites. Due to the hostility on this street, the Cobras did not follow Jeffrey any further. -
Amanda saves Maniac Magee from Mars Bar
Mars Bar brought some friends to gang up on Maniac Magee because they did not like the way he talked to them. Right before the group of boys close in on him, Amanda arrives on a bike and scares them away, by yelling about the ripped page out of her book. -
Maniac Magee stays with Amanda
Maniac Magee goes home with Amanda, and after finding that he is homeless, her parents tell him he can stay with them. Maniac Magee did nothing but help in the house, whether it was cleaning, or entertaining Hester and Lester, he was never not wanted. He stayed in Amanda's room, and got to read all of her books. He finally felt like he had an address. -
Man speaks to Maniac Magee
Maniac Magee was wondering around a block party that he attended with Amanda and her family, when a man approached him and told him he needed to go home. This man did not mean to go back to Amanda's house, but instead leave town. He called Maniac by the name "whitey", inferring that he should go back to living with white people and leave their area alone. -
Maniac Magee threatens to run away
After many efforts by Hester, Lester, and Amanda to keep him away, Maniac Magee sees that the house he has been living in has "FISHBELLY GO HOME" written on the side. Maniac says he wants to leave, so that he is not a burden on the family anymore. Amanda tried every effort to keep him from leaving, but he seemed set, and took off. Maniac Magee returned back at Amanda's house late at night. -
Maniac Magee becomes interested in knots
Maniac was able to untie any of Hester and Lester's shoes, so in an effort to get him a good reputation in the town, Amanda told him he needed to untie the impossible knot on Cobble's Corner. This knot has been tried by many, but nobody was ever successful, until Maniac did so. He was praised for a little while, but after realizing he was still harming Amanda's family by living with them, he decided to leave town. -
Maniac meets Grayson
After leaving town, Maniac is found in a buffalo pen by an old man named Grayson. Grayson picks him up, and takes him to an equipment room to check on him. They become good friends, live together, and help each other learn new things. Until he died in December. -
Maniac finds Russel and Piper
While staying in a cabin after the death of Grayson, Maniac hears more voices coming in and out of cabins near by. Upon exploring the voices, he finds that it is two young boys. Maniac tricks them into going back to two mills with him to get pizza instead of running away. Soon McNab comes running up asking the two boys, his brothers, where they had been. After much inquiring, McNab invites Maniac to come to his house, where he stays. -
Maniac races Mars Bar
Maniac is dared to enter the East Side, which he gladly does because he has been there many times. Once on that side, Mars Bar comes running out, and after debating who was badder and faster, Mars Bar challenges Maniac to a race. Maniac wins the races, ending it by running backwards. -
Maniac invites Mars Bar to a party
When Maniac returns from the race, he finds that McNab and his brothers were building a pillbox, and acting as if they were shooting people, in preparation for the idea that the black people will be taking over their town soon. Maniac, annoyed by this, tells Piper that he will attend his birthday party if he can bring someone with, which turns out to be Mars Bar. -
Maniac leaves the McNab house
After McNab chases Mars Bar out of his house, Maniac decides to leave with him. However, Mars Bar is offended that Maniac tried to introduce him to white people and then have them treat him so horribly, so they go in separate directions. Maniac goes to the buffalo shed, while Mars Bar goes back home. -
Mars Bar and Maniac meet again
After sleeping in a different place every night, Maniac ends up back in Two Mills. He finds that him and Mars Bar both run in the early mornings, and one day coincidentally run together, which they continue to do every morning after that. -
Mars Bar saves Russel from the P & W
During one of their runs, Peter comes running up to Maniac. They follow him back, to find that Russel has gotten stuck on the P & W trolley platform. Maniac walked away, as it was too hard for him to watch because it was where his parents had died. But Mars Bar, despite his view of the McNabs, stepped in and rescued Russel. After hearing about this, Maniac felt he had helped lessen the tension between the black and white community. -
Maniac finally finds a home
Mars Bar, now friends with Maniac, asks if he would like to stay with them for a while. Maniac refused and ran away. However, later that night, Mars Bar and Amanda came to find him in the buffalo pen, and convinced him that they wanted him to stay, despite what anyone says. This made Maniac feel like he finally had a place that he could call home.