5 min read ⌚ 

Friendship is a wonderful thing – it connects you to people no matter your similarities and differences.

But how can two completely different people be friends?

“Freak the Mighty” explores this question.

Who Should Read “Freak the Mighty”? And Why?

“Freak the Mighty” is a story about a boy who befriends another physically handicapped, but very smart boy. It is a tear-jerking story about friendship and growing up, and blending differences by forming a beautiful connection with another person.

This book is intense and real, and funny at the same time.

There is no reader who would not like a good heartwarming friendship story – so we recommend it to all of you that came by this article.

Rodman Philbrick Biography

Rodman Philbrick is an American writer who was mainly writing detective novels, until the day a boy living in the next block inspired him to write “Freak the Mighty”.

The become has become a worldwide phenomenon and has been adapted for the screen as well.

Plot

Maxwell Kane is a boy living in Portsmouth, New Hampshire (a literary version of it), along with his grandparents Grim and Gram.

He has incredibly low self-esteem, mostly because he looks very much like his father, or at least that is what people say, who has been convicted of murder.

The first lines and pages of the story are filled with Max’s reminiscences about the past, especially about the moments while he was in daycare and made the acquaintance of a boy named Kevin.

This boy recalls a situation with one of his classmates nicknamed Freak.

They chose such name because he had Morhuio syndrome and has to use crutches in order to support himself since he wears leg braces.

Other people bully him because he is quite short, but Max actually likes his braces and crutches. Kevin, on the other hand, decides to turn his condition in fantasy and thinks of himself as a robot.

Years pass and Max grows up, and he loses touch with Freak.

But then, one day, while he is in middle school, he finds out that Freak and his mother are going to be his next-door neighbors.

Max approaches Freak, but at first, he colds his distance, and is even aggressive towards him.

However, after Max helps him save one toy that is stuck in a tree, he starts to trust him, and they become friends.

On the Independence day, they go together to watch the fireworks. There, they stumbled upon one boy named Tony “Blade” D that moves along with his gang, who attack them.

However, they wish to avoid any kind of conflict, so they try to escape. In order for them to be able to outrun the gang that is chasing them, Freak gets on Max’s shoulders. Then, a police car notices them and takes them back to their houses.

After that day, Freak gets on Max’s shoulders regularly and moves like that. They create a name for themselves: Freak the Mighty and go on different adventures together.

During one of those adventures, they found a lost woman’s purse and return it to her.

Her name is Loretta Lee and is the spouse of the leader of a motorcycle gang Iggy Lee. This motorcycle gang called the Panheads is fearsome for everyone, the cops included.

The Lees talk to the boys, and they reveal that they knew Max’s father and that Kevin’s father was also a part of the gang, but left once he found out about his son’s birth defect.

Later on, Max’s grandfather tells him that his father has been released on parole. This news brings unrest in the family – in fact, Max’s grandparents are afraid that their grandchild will grow up like him.

As the story develops we find out that Max’s father strangled his mother to death and that is why they are all afraid of him. His grandfather wants to buy a gun to protect the family because he believes that the parole will bring them unease and problems.

These fears become real when Max’s father shows up on Christmas Eve and kidnaps Max to be his assistant, taking him to Iggy Lee.

He swears to Max that he did not kill his mother, but he is very intimidating not only to Max but everyone else as well. On Christmas morning he ties Max up in an abandoned apartment, and he leaves him alone.

That is when Loretta feels sorry for the boy, and shocked that someone would do that to his own son, he helps Max escape.

However, this is only a try since Max’s father arrives while she is untying him, and tries to strangle her.

Max tells him that he had once witnessed him killing his mother the same way. So, his father gets angry and gives up trying to make him his assistant and decides that it would be better for him just to kill him.

He tries to strangle him, but at the right moment Freak arrives and squirts Kane with a squirt gun filled with curry, vinegar, and soap (but everyone thinks it is sulfuric acid).

The police are already waiting on the scene, and Max’s father is taken back to prison where his sentence is prolonged.

He pleads guilty.

Freak the Mighty Epilogue

Freak has a seizure on his birthday, and he is given to the hospital.

Before he is taken in, he gives Max a blank notebook which he asks him to fill up with the story of Freak the Mighty.

Max returns the next day, only to learn that he passed away.

The reason?

His heart was too big for his tiny body.

It seems that he knew about his destiny, but he never told his friend since he wanted him to have hope.

Max feels depressed for days and refuses to leave the comfort of his room.

But then, he realizes that doing nothing is the worst he could do, so he fills up the blank book as he was asked to, to honor his best friend.

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“Freak the Mighty PDF Quotes”

Our Critical Review

This was such a heartwarming experience!

“Freak the Mighty” is a book like I have not read in a long time.

I loved every bit of it. And so will you, if you give it a chance.

Emir Zecovic

Emir is the Head of Marketing at 12min. In his spare time, he loves to meditate and play soccer.