Common Sense Note
Kids will enjoy the funny writing, quirky and likable characters, high imagination, and suspense. The main characters often discuss the meanings of words, reading and writing, and how to use imagination. Includes a humorous dictionary.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Monica Wyatt
Funny, scary, suspenseful, and wise, this book can help young readers accept kids who seem different from them. When you don't fit in, and you're a kid, what do you do? Max just suffers alone, compressing his emotions inside his massive body. Kevin fights back by letting his intelligence and his imagination soar beyond his deformed body.
Even if he can't save himself, Kevin can save Max. He teaches Max how to use his imagination to create exciting adventures: Houses become castles, swimming pools become moats, and a hardboiled motorcycle mama becomes a damsel in distress. And he teaches readers compassion and that everyone is valuable and has something to contribute. Kevin uses his vocabulary as a weapon and teaches Max how to use the dictionary, his favorite book. Max says that Kevin "pulls it out like Arnold Schwarzenegger pulling out a machine gun or something." Thus the character instills in real kids the power of words.
Through Kevin's courage in the face of his illness, readers learn the importance of not giving up when faced with difficulty, and they witness how Kevin inspires Max's progress. The sequel is Max the Mighty. The fine movie adaptation is called The Mighty.
From the Book:
Freak is still holding tight to my shoulders and when they ask him for his name, he says, "We're Freak the Mighty, that's who we are. We're nine feet tall, in case you haven't noticed."
That's how it started, really, how we got to be Freak the Mighty, slaying dragons and fools and walking high above the world.
Plot Summary:
A hulking "retard" and a brilliant, crippled boy become strong as they undertake imaginary quests and fight all-too-real criminals. The only thing they can't conquer is time. Max knows that people -- even his own grandparents -- fear him because he looks just like his imprisoned father, who's known as Killer Kane. He's huge, he can hardly read or write, and he lives in his grandparents' basement.
But his new neighbor, Kevin, in his tiny, deformed body, seems willing to accept him. The two become close friends, assuming a new identity when Max begins carrying Kevin on his shoulders. Kevin dubs them Freak the Mighty, and they wander their town using Max's mobility and Kevin's brain to conjure up exciting quests. With Kevin's help, Max learns to read and is allowed out of his special-education classes to join Max in his honors courses. But when Max's father is paroled, Max relives the horrors of his past, while Kevin tries to rescue him.
Related Books:
Sequel
Max the Mighty
Books With Similar Themes
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
The Adventures of Blue Avenger by Norma Howe
Mick Harte Was Here by Barbara Park
Related Videos
The Mighty
| Content | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CS | adults | kids | ||
Sexual Content |
 |
 |
|
|
ViolenceA gang member attacks the two main characters, and a man strangles two characters. A main character is kidnapped and nearly killed by his own father. |
|
|
|
|
Language |
|
|
|
|
Message |
|
 |
|
|
Social BehaviorThe main characters disobey their parents and go to a dangerous area. |
 |
 |
 |
|
Commercialism |
 |
|
|
|
Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco |
|
|
|
|
