Freak the Mighty Author:W. R. Philbrick Extraordinarily powerful, uplifting and memorable, the story of "Freak the Mighty" explores an unlikely friendship, and finds optimism and humour in a story of great poignancy. Bring your tissues. Maxwell Kane is feared and bullied because of his mental slowness and enormous size. But this is not the only cross he has to bear; Maxwell's father i... more »s in jail for murdering his mother. Kevin is smart, quirky and funny with insatiable curiosity and zest for life but he suffers from a rare genetic condition, which inhibits the growth of his body. Yet the combination of Kevin and Maxwell is formidable, when together they become Freak the Mighty.« less
I read this book when it first came out and my children were elementary school. This is an awesome tale of friendship by two social outcasts who become the best of friends and feed each other hope for better times. There is a movie based on this book as well and is excellent.
Read this with our grandchildren. We all loved it and had to find the movie, which was close enough to the spirit of the book to get an approval from us.
This book, about two boys that don't fit in, joining forces to become more than the total of the two parts is a great story of triumph, love, and achievement. It really caught the interests of my at-risk students. They were able to relate to the boys and my problem readers even volunteered to read.
I teach this novel to sixth graders and I find that for a novel that is 15+ years old it still is relevant to many young adults today.
Funny and heart-wrenching at the same time - a very good read. The film version , The Mighty, obviously is missing a few details (stuff you would notice only after reading it 20x per year). The actors in the film really match up to how you envision the characters when reading.
Easy read for Jr. High or mature Elementary, however be advised that "butthead" is used frequently. Also, a main character dies, then two characters run away. If I had known these things, I would not have ordered the book for my 3rd grader. Luckily, I read the book first. It is an interesting read for older readers or adults.