Mapping a Novel, by Laila Lipetz

By creating a map of the novel Maniac Magee, students exercise their geography skills – and get some fan mail from author Jerry Spinelli

When I saw an envelope in my school cubby with Jerry Spinelli's return address on it, my heart beat fast. It had to be his reply to my fifth-grade students' earlier letter. I rushed back down the hall to my classroom, eager to share this thrilling event with my students who had hoped against hope that a busy and successful author would answer them.

A map of Two Mills. Earlier that spring we had studied Spinelli's Maniac Magee (Little, Brown, 1990), the tale of an orphaned, homeless preteen. The novel focuses on Maniac's first year in the racially divided town of Two Mills, as he runs from place to place, adventure to adventure, home to home.

For my students' final project, I proposed that they apply the skills they'd acquired in geography class to a literary work and map Maniac's adventures in Two Mills. The final map would be a map of the town, including street names as mentioned in the novel, miniature illustrations of places of interest and story settings, concise summaries of each of his many adventures, a legend, a title and the route of Maniac's journey. The students' interest was immediately piqued, both by the unusual way of addressing literary text and by the prospect of a class-wide, cooperative project.

Making lists. The first task before us was to return to the novel for some close rereading of text. I divided the class into small groups and broke the novel into an equal number of parts. Each group was required to examine their assigned chapters and report what they'd learned regarding Maniac's adventures and about Two Mills as a setting. I recorded their findings on chart paper so that not only was it immediately visible to all, but it was also on display for further reference as checklists. One list tracked Maniac's series of almost 40 adventures and stated whether they took place in the east or west part of town, that is, in the white or the black neighborhoods. Another list noted street names, while a third list included all-important settings and any pertinent descriptions or information.

With the lists in place, we were set to begin on the next step. After a minilesson on summarizing, my students each chose two adventures to summarize. His or her goal was to compose two clear, descriptive compound sentences since our space was limited on the map. The final drafts of the roughly 40 summaries were written on lined 2" x 3" index cards. I set them aside until the final assembly of the map.

Laying it out. We next discussed the general layout of the map. With the information gleaned from our second readings of the novel and by combining our personal readings of the descriptions of the town into a shared vision, we imagined Two Mills. Guided by the students, I drew the town's basic layout onto a 2.5' x 6' piece of white mural paper; included were only the most critical characteristics of the town – the river, the railroad tracks, the main street that divides the town into two racially different halves, a grid of streets and the outskirts. Further details would be added by the students themselves.

Once again, the students determined their next tasks. They could choose between drawing an important location or significant landform, writing out street name labels, designing a legend or writing individual letters for the title of the map. When they completed their chosen tasks, the kids deposited their bits of paper into predetermined piles and chose another, still-to-be-done task.

When all the tasks were complete, we hung the map on the bulletin board and started stapling and gluing the students' work onto it. A few students at a time worked with me on this task, while the others worked on unrelated assignments. Eventually, all streets that had been identified in the book were labeled, all significant places and landforms had been placed correctly, summaries of each adventure were stapled in the right location, and the legend and title reinforced its authentic form as a viable map.

One great sweep. Finally, we needed to map Maniac's adventures. With a red marker in my hand, I let the students' directions guide me from place to place. As I suspected, his movements both criss-crossed the town, showing his zig-zagging between the racially separate halves and snaked throughout, indicating his fervent, aimless running.

We were enchanted with the results. The large, vibrant map, titled "The Adventures of Maniac Magee," relayed the plot and setting of the novel in one great sweep. It could be appreciated from afar, with an eye on Maniac's bright-red route, or it could be enjoyed close up, with a focus on Maniac's individual adventures and their settings. As we gazed at the map, we wondered whether Spinelli had had one like it in his study as he wrote Maniac Magee and whether authors in general have similar maps of their novels literally before their eyes as they write. The students eagerly waylaid friends in the hall to come see their creation just as I called in my colleagues for a quick look and a brief pedagogical description.

Jerry Spinelli writes back. The project seemed to be over. But it took a turn when a student came in excitedly one morning, having found Spinelli's address on the Internet. When another student offered to take a picture of the map so we could send it to him, I said that with input from the class, I would gladly write an accompanying letter. The next day, the student brought in his digital camera and I read the first draft of my letter, ready for my students' revisions. The following day, with the addressed envelope, the color photograph and the letter signed by 24 students and me, we were only a postage stamp away from our goal.

The students were thrilled with Mr. Spinelli's response. He loved their map and said that while he had worked out a partial map of Two Mills for another novel for which it was the setting, he hadn't mapped out Maniac's route or designed the entire town.

Even without the excitement of an esteemed author's response, I felt this was an outstanding activity. In terms of specific Language Arts skills, the students practiced close reading of texts for an authentic purpose and honed their summary writing skills. It also allowed for group and individual work and assigned and self-chosen tasks while integrating across the curriculum (geography, visual arts). Our final product created a strong class community and a shared sense of pride.

Laila Lipetz has been an educator in elementary and high schools for over 20 years. She lives in Toronto, ON, Canada.