1. By Rodman (Rod) Philbrick
Freak the Mighty
By Rodman (Rod) Philbrick
“I wrote this because Max, the mighty half of Freak the Mighty, insisted and he’s bigger than I am.”
Inspired by his son’s friend who died with the same medical condition as Freak, but had a different personality.
“It was my way of dealing with the loss.”
He wrote the entire novel in one draft in about six weeks.

2. Followed by Max the Mighty Movie, The Mighty
Followed by Max the Mighty
Movie, The Mighty
A “classic cousin” to the novel we read. It is often studied in high school; the ending is tough to handle.

3. “In every bit of honest writing in the world, there is a base theme
“In every bit of honest writing in the world, there is a base theme. Try to understand men, if you understand each other you will be kind to each other. KNOWING A MAN WELL NEVER LEADS TO HATE and nearly always leads to love. There are shorter means, many of them. There is writing promoting social change, writing punishing injustice, writing in celebration of heroism, but always that base theme. TRY TO UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER!” ― John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men

4. Kevin’s (Freak’s) Dictionarypp
Share around one of your favorite entries from Freak’s dictionary and tell why you like it.
Unicorn—a horse that makes a point
Writing– talking on paper
Zoo– an 8th grade English class
From reading his dictionary, what do you notice about Kevin’s personality and character that was also probably becoming clear to you all through the novel?
Extra credit: Create your own dictionary of around 10 made up and/or adapted words
For fun: Find some Sniglets to share with the class
Sniglet is a neologsm, popularized by comedian/actor Rich Hall during his tenure on the 1980s HBO comedy series Not Necessarily the News. Each episode of the monthly series featured a regular segment on sniglets, which Hall described as "any word that doesn't appear in the dictionary, but should".

5. https://prezi.com/hjpi8dq3iskh/characters-in-freak-the-mighty/
This prezi highlights main characters. You’ll see too many grammar type mistakes, but info is there. Beware of spoiler alerts.
Let’s talk about self-assessments.
Did the characters’ self-assessments agree with who/what they really were?
What caused any changes in the characters that you discovered?
How does this relate to your own self-assessments…the inside/outside self?

6. The plot is somewhat circular
The plot is somewhat circular. Re-read the first paragraph and the last three paragraphs of the novel and explain what this might mean.
Think of the most important/memorable plot point in the novel to you. Think of an object that might symbolize that portion of the plot. Share the object (tell about or draw it) and see if we can recall the plot point you are thinking of.

7. Explore some of the novel’s themes:
The importance of friendship and family
The difference between myth and reality
Recognizing the worth in all humans
The importance of positive self-concept
Dealing with death

8. Do you think Freak really believes that he will be “the first bionically improved human” by having a body transplant? What does he mean when he says, “You can remember anything, whether it happened or not?”

9. Recall and find some of the most memorable quotes from the novel
Recall and find some of the most memorable quotes from the novel. Give them to me and I’ll make a slide show to share with the class.
You may have already listed them in your annotations, or you can use the link below to find and choose some.