Why does Amanda give Maniac a book in Maniac Magee?
Readers should look to chapter 3 for evidence on this question. Chapter 3 begins with Maniac coming across Amanda Beale. Maniac sees Amanda walking down the street, and he assumes that she is running away like he is because she is pulling a suitcase along with her.
What made Amanda different was that she was carrying a suitcase, and that's what caught Maniac's eye. He figured she was like him, running away, so he stopped and said, "Hi."
Being a friendly guy, Maniac stops, points to the suitcase, and asks Amanda if she is running away. Amanda says that she is going to school, and she opens up the suitcase in order to show Maniac that it is filled with books. Maniac is entranced by the sight, and he begins to rummage through the suitcase. Amanda states that she has to get going to school, and Maniac offers to carry...
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the suitcase for her. She declines and tries to distance herself from Maniac. She even explains why she has a suitcase full of books, but Maniac will not leave her alone.
Amanda told him. She told him about her little brother and sister at home, who loved to crayon every piece of paper they could find, whether or not it already had type all over it. And about the dog, Bow Wow, who chewed everything he could get his teeth on. And that, she said, was why she carried her whole library to and from school every day.
By this point, Amanda is likely to be late for school. She is trying to hurry along, but Maniac simply will not leave her alone. Maniac then asks if he can borrow a book. Amanda absolutely doesn't want to do that; however, she also doesn't want to be late to school. Feeling the pressure of the bells and knowing that she doesn't want to be late, Amanda hurls a book at Maniac just to get rid of him so she can get to school on time.
Second bell rang. Amanda screamed, whirled, ran.
"Amanda?"
She stopped, turned. "Ohhhh," she squeaked. She tore a book from the suitcase, hurled it at him—"Here!" and dashed into school.
Amanda finally gives Maniac a book because of his sheer persistence. As she tells her mother, who knows that Amanda is very possessive about her books, "Mom, he practically made me". The fact that Amanda has a kind heart also plays into her generosity. She perceptively observes to her mother, "He really likes books". Amanda's family unquestioningly takes in the ragged, homeless Maniac. It is not surprising that Amanda, who comes from such a giving environment, would share the same rare qualities of empathy and unselfishness (Chapter 12).
Why did Maniac first talk to Amanda Beale in Maniac Magee?
The answer to this question can be found at the very beginning of Chapter 3. There, we see the incident in which Maniac first meets Amanda. This is on what was apparently Maniac’s first day in Two Mills after the “lost year” that he spent on his way from Hollidaysburg to Two Mills. At the beginning of the chapter, we find out that Maniac thinks that Amanda is, like him, running away from home. This is why he talks to her.
As we know by this point, Maniac has run away from “home.” He had been living with an aunt and uncle after his parents died. But he hated the fact that the aunt and uncle had a terrible relationship and he ran away. After a year, he shows up in Two Mills. There, he sees Amanda walking along carrying a suitcase. He believes that she is carrying it because she is running away. As the narrator says
What made Amanda different was that she was carrying a suitcase, and that’s what caught Maniac’s eye. He figured she was like him, running away…
Of course, Amanda was not really running away. Instead, her suitcase was full of books. So Maniac was wrong, but at least it allowed him to meet someone in the new town.