Freak the Mighty

Infobox Book
name = Freak the Mighty
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = "Freak the Mighty" paperback cover
author = Rodman Philbrick
illustrator =
cover_artist = David Shannon
country = United States
genre = Young Adult
publisher = Blue Sky/Scholastic
release_date = 1993
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
pages = 538
isbn = ISBN 0785765948
preceded_by =
followed_by = Max the Mighty

"Freak the Mighty" is a young adult novel by Rodman Philbrick. Published in 1993, it was followed by the novel "Max the Mighty" in 1998. The primary characters are friends Maxwell Kane, a large, very slow, but kind-hearted kid and his friend Kevin Avery, nicknamed “Freak,” who is physically crippled but very intelligent. [Rodman Philbrick, "Freak the Mighty", Scholastic Books, 1993.]

The novel was adapted for the screen by Charles Leavitt; the film was shot in Toronto, Canada and Cincinnati, Ohio, and directed by Peter Chelsom, and released in 1998. [Peter Chelsom, "The Mighty", Chaos Productions, 1998.]

Plot

In the beginning of the book, Maxwell Kane is a boy with low self-esteem. He lives in the basement of his house under the protection of his grandparents who he calls "Grim" and "Gram". He thinks of himself as stupid and people are afraid of him because of the fact that he looks like his father "Killer Kane," a convicted murderer. The story starts out when Max is in day care and he describes a small kid on crutches who loves robots. This kid is named Kevin Dillon. Max, however, calls Kevin, "Freak". Many years later when Max is in middle school, the story begins. It is the summer and Freak has moved away. Later that day, Max finds that people are moving into the adjacent house. The new neighbors turn out to be Freak and his mother Gwen Dillon, who Freak calls "The Fair Gwen" after King Arthur's wife. Freak and Max meet and the two become friends. Freak shows a display of advanced vocabulary using words such as "sobriquet" and "opiate". Freak is also abnormal in the way that he is only two feet high and is in Middle School. Max takes Freak to the 4th of July fireworks and the two run into the local thug Tony D alias "Blade" who harasses them with his gang after Freak calls Blade a "cretin". They are rescued by the police before Blade does any harm.

After this incident, the two become friends and Freak starts riding on Max's shoulder. The two go on adventures such as going to the hospital which Freak claims has a secret department called the "Bionics Department" which has had his body cat scanned to be fitted into an artificial body. The two also find a woman's purse in the sewer. They return it to the woman who is named Loretta Lee. She is the wife of Iggy Lee, the boss of the Panheads, a motorcycle gang who "strike fear in every one, even the cops" as Max puts it. Lee says that the two of them once knew Max's father and Max and Freak leave thankful that they are alive.

At school, Freak nearly dies when he has a seizure after eating American chop suey. Max alerts the nurse believing that Freak was choking. Freak is later taken to the hospital. Later, Grim reveals to Max that his father has been put on parole. Max is shocked by this news. Freak returns from the hospital and the two celebrate Christmas Eve together. Max receives a handmade dictionary from Freak and it becomes very special to him. After Christmas Eve, Max is waken up by his father Maxes dad Killer Kane who had come down the chimney to kidnap Max. Max is kidnapped by his father and the two drive to Iggy Lee's room in the "New Testaments" which is slang for the new tenements. Killer Kane swears on the Bible that he had not murdered Max's mother and he also reveals that he plans to head to "warmer weather." Later, a police car drives by Iggy Lee's house. Iggy says that Freak was leading the search for Max. Killer Kane then gets anxious and starts to prepare to leave. He leaves Max alone tied up in a room in the house. Loretta, shocked that Kane would do something like tying up his own kid frees Max, but Killer Kane sees her untying him and starts to choke her. Max attempts to stop him and reveals that he witnessed Kane kill his mother. Kane appears shocked then attempts to kill Max, but Freak arrives and saves Max by squirting Kane with a squirt gun he claims is filled with sulfuric acid when in fact, is filled with soap, vinegar, and curry powder. Kane is arrested and put in jail.

Later in the year, Freak dies after telling Max to record all of there adventures. Doctors tell Max that Freak's heart got too big for his body. Max grieves for weeks, but Loretta, with her neck in a brace, tells Max "nothing is a drag kid, think about it." Max takes this to heart and says that Freak wouldn't have wanted him to grieve. So with Loretta Lee's help, Max finishes a book about Freak and his adventures, completing Freak's final wishes. Max then reveals that "Freak the Mighty" was the book he had written about his adventures with Freak.

References