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Possible Answers
1. Why does the author say that the batters were
walking the gangplank as they went up to bat against McNab?
Possible Answer: The author is is making a comparison.
Years ago big ships had gangplanks. People on board who were
disobedient or rebelled against the captain were forced to walk the
gangplank. They walked off to their death. When kids had to
face the pitcher McNab, it was as bad as walking the gangplank because
you knew you would strike out.
2. Do you agree with the fact that people in
town began to refer to Jeffrey Magee as Maniac? Explain your
answer.
Possible Answer: The dictionary defines the word maniac as
someone who is wildly or violently insane. I disagree that Jeffrey
was insane. He was just a kid who didn't know that he couldn't do
things. He wasn't afraid to try because he had nothing to lose.
3. Maniac Magee encountered unexpected turns in
his life. Write about a time in your life when you had an
unexpected turn. Compare this to one of Maniac's.
Possible Answer:
4. Hector Street, the boundary between the East
and West is a boundary between the blacks and the whites. Name
another boundary you are familiar with and explain how it is similar to
Hector Street.
Possible Answer: The boundary I think of are the boundaries
that occur in my school. There are certain ones that are invisible
but they are there. Fourth graders don't play with fifth graders
on the playground because there's a boundary. Certain kids sit at
a specific table in the lunchroom because they don't want to sit with
other people. Sometimes kids are forced to sit by or do things
with kids they don't like because they're assigned to by a
teacher. They do what they need to do, but then they go back to
the boundaries when the teachers aren't around.
I think this is similar to Hector Street because the same thing
happens in both places. People know there are boundaries and they
don't cross them. This is shown in this book when Amanda asks if
Maniac lives on the white side of the border. She knows he can't
live in her neighborhood.
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