Max the Mighty

• Genre: Fiction; young adult realistic adventure
• Originally Published: 1998
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 870L; grades 6-10
• Structure/Length: 30 chapters; approx. 166 pages; approx. 3 hours, 27 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: Fourteen-year-old Max Kane, hero of Freak the Mighty, is accused of a crime he did not commit, so he flees with his newfound friend Worm. Soon, however, Max must overcome his fear and face truth and secrets.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Learning disabilities; bullying; domestic violence

Rodman Philbrick, Author

• Bio: Born in 1951; American author of adult mysteries and young adult novels; raised on the coast of New England; has experience as a longshoreman and boat builder; collaborated on juvenile series with his late wife, Lynn Harnett; winner of the Maine Library Association’s Katahdin Award (2020) for lifetime achievement in children’s literature
• Other Works: Freak the Mighty (1993); The Fire Pony (1996); The Last Book in the Universe (2000); The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg (2009)
• Awards: Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award Nominee (2000)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• Doing the Right Thing Instead of the Safe Thing
• Reading as a Defense, and Reading as Inspiration
• Comforting Beliefs and Powerful Truths

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will: