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Earl Grayson
Giant John McNab is a huge 12-year-old, the pitcher for Two Mills’ Little League baseball team. He’s also a bully, part of a gang called the Cobras. Maniac Magee breaks Giant John’s strikeout record the day he arrives in Two Mills, and from that moment on, Giant John has it in for Maniac. Giant John lives with his drunken father, George, in a filthy house along with his little brothers, Piper and Russell, and he has absorbed his dad’s racist ideas. Giant John spends much of his time drinking and smoking with the Cobras and letting his little brothers do the same. Giant John tolerates Maniac after Maniac rescues the runaway Piper and Russell and brings them home.
Giant John McNab Quotes in Maniac Magee
The Maniac Magee quotes below are all either spoken by Giant John McNab or refer to Giant John McNab. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 8 Quotes
The town was buzzing. The schools were buzzing. […]
Buzzing about the new kid in town. The stranger kid. Scraggly. Carrying a book. Flap-soled sneakers.
The kid who intercepted Brian Denehy’s pass to Hands Down and punted it back longer than Denehy himself ever threw it.
The kid who rescued Arnold Jones from Finsterwald’s backyard.
The kid who […] circled the sacks on a bunted frog.
Nobody knows who said it first, but somebody must have: “Kid’s gotta be a maniac.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Maniac Magee LitChart as a printable PDF.
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Giant John McNab Character Timeline in Maniac Magee
The timeline below shows where the character Giant John McNab appears in Maniac Magee. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 7
The next time somebody spots Jeffrey, it’s at the Little League field. Pitcher Giant John McNab has just set a Two Mills Little League record by striking out 16 batters. McNab...
(full context)
...League uniform. He sets down his book, takes his batter’s stance, and looks expectantly at John McNab . When McNab protests the “runt’s” presence, Jeffrey calmly borrows a red cap from another...
(full context)
Finally Giant John excuses himself to pee in the woods. When he finally returns, his eyes are gleaming....
(full context)
Chapter 9
Giant John McNab can’t get over his failure to strike out Maniac. He sees it as a blemish...
(full context)
Chapter 21
...in a position to get hurt like this. He starts walking. Eventually, he runs into John McNab and the Cobras, hissing threats at him. So he keeps walking down the middle of...
(full context)
Chapter 34
...spend the night at their house before trying again for Mexico. As they leave Cobble’s, Giant John McNab suddenly stomps toward them. The little boys cling to Maniac as McNab demands, “So what’re...
(full context)
Chapter 35
...find out who Maniac is, they can’t stop laughing—they know the story of Maniac bunting Giant John ’s “fastfrog” pitch. Maniac doesn’t like seeing the kids laugh at their older brother, so...
(full context)
...“scenes from a loony movie.” The Cobras come over to smoke and drink beer with Giant John . Piper and Russell join the bigger kids in smoking and drinking. There’s a football...
(full context)
Chapter 39
...Enders had surely killed him. When they enter the McNabs’ house, he sees George McNab, Giant John , and some of the Cobras lugging cinder blocks inside.
(full context)
...invasion by the “rebels,” which is what they call the East Enders. Maniac talked to Giant John about it once in an attempt to understand—Giant John is convinced that the black residents...
(full context)
Chapter 42
...hole in the ceiling and startles Mars Bar, Maniac has to restrain Mars Bar and Giant John from getting into a fight. John stops when Maniac reminds him that he owes Maniac...
(full context)
