Jerry Spinelli's 'Maniac Magee': Book Vs. Movie

Maniac Magee Book vs. Movie
Similarities and Differences Have you ever read a book and then watch the same movie about the book? If you have, you will notice some similarities and differences between the book and movie. An excellent example that can be used to compare and contrast between book and movie is Jerry Spinelli’s fascinating novel, Maniac Magee and its movie. Like many other movies, the movie based on Maniac Magee features several changes but also has some similarities so that it is still recognizable as based on the book. While watching the movie, two major differences that I found between the book and movie are: there is no Grayson in the movie while there is in the book, and the book and movie’s contrasting ending. Being so …show more content…
In the movie, Piper and Russell allowed Maniac to bring a guest with him to Piper’s birthday party. This part is similar but however, Maniac brought Amanda with him to invite Mars Bars with him to the party. Together Amanda, Maniac and Mars Bars went to the party at the McNab’s house in contrast to the book where only Maniac and Mars Bars went to the party. In the movie when Mars Bars entered the party, George McNab threatened to fire a cannon at him. This is different to the book where George McNab goes upstairs and asked his children to inform him when “it” had gone away. The scene of what happened next marked the ending of the movie about Maniac Magee. After hearing this, Mars Bars ran away outside into the night and the entire party went outside after him. George McNab said that he was going to fire a cannon at Mars Bars and Piper and Russell were up on a roof to throw down sacks of debris at the enemy. Piper accidentally tripped over and fell when he dropped a can of food and went after it. Mars Bars saw this and ran over to saved Piper from the fall by using his body. Just then, sacks of debris fell over the roof of the house and John McNab rushed over and saved Mars Bars. By saving each other from death, the McNabs agreed to stop hating the East Enders and formed a friendship. Contrasting to the movie, Mars Bars left the McNab’s house after the Cobras started yelling insults at him. One morning in the book, during one of Mars Bars and Maniac’s morning walks Piper came and begged Maniac to saved Russell from an approaching trolley. Maniac feared the trolley and ran away without saving Russell which allowed Mars Bars to saved Russell. The story in the book ended when Maniac was at the zoo and awoke by Mars Bars. After telling Maniac about what happened to Piper at the trolley incident, he brought Amanda with him to talk to Maniac. She convinced him to go and