MANIAC MAGEE

Separating the truth from the fiction about the life of a hero is always difficult, and setting the record straight on Jeffrey Lionel Magee--Maniac Magee--is no exception. It's not just that this homeless 12-year-old kid can hit a ball better and run faster than anyone else in Two Mills, Pennsylvania, but that he does unthinkable things, like crossing the boundary between the white West End and the black East End, confronting prejudice and racism head on. Sigrid Heath reads with energy and enthusiasm. She uses pauses and inflections well and neatly captures both the humor and drama of Spinelli's Newbery Medal-winning novel. A good match has been made between book and reader; too bad this is an abridgment (something that is acknowledged at the end of the tape, but not on the package). C.R.A. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: JAN 96]