Thursday, January 8, 2009

Freak the Mighty - the Mightiest Read Aloud

Freak the Mighty strikes again. Each year this book is students' favorite read aloud. This book, written by Rodman Philbrick grabs the reader into a story about two boys that are the most unlikely friends. The only thing they have in common is that they are both misfits.

Max begins the book with, "I never had a brain until Freak came along." He is the biggest kid in the school, but one that has always been labeled as the dumbest. Kevin aka Freak is a "crippled kid" with amazing intelligence. Together they become Freak the Mighty.

Students relate to Max and Freak, feeling united with the challenges they face. This is surprising considering how most students are so different from these two characters. But, everyone can feel the pain of not fitting in with the crowd, and being picked on by peers.

We will spend a lot of time discussing character development in this book, especially the way Max changes and grows. In the first chapter his low self-esteem jumps out at the reader. His loneliness is evident with his tears of joy after eating dinner with Freak and his mom, the Fair Gwen.

As we progress through the book, questions upcoming in the online journals include: How would you react if you met Max? If you met Freak? How would Kevin and Max be different, if they attended school at Laurelville?

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15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think freak is smart but he needs to go to anger mangment classes. But when you think about it you got to be sorry for him he is only three foot tall.Freak is overall very funny but he needs a smaller mouth too. Max seems like he is ok but don`t you think he needs to learn how to tell left and right apart?

Anonymous said...

I think that Freak needs to go to anger management classes and not to stop learning. Freak knows almost any thing and he has a great imagination like dragons and knights. Freak makes Max do every thing like a pack mule. Freak calls Max and him the nine foot Freak.

Anonymous said...

Freak the mighty is a good book. I think it is just cool how freak and max work together. Freak has the brains to figure out how to get away. Max has the ability to run. Freak figures out how to get away and max just goes where freak tells him to. So together they work as a team to get out of trouble.

Anonymous said...

I think freak could be a scientist or a 21 generation Albert Enstien. There only reason freak would be at Laurelville is he would be teaching. Max and freak are like two different people, total opposites. Freak at Laurelville would be like some kind of genius at a one room school house. I agree with Seth, freak needs anger management classes.

Anonymous said...

I think that Freak would make an “OK” student at Laurelville. The reason why I think he'd make an ok student at Laurelville is because he knows a lot more than we know. Who knows he might just be cut out for middle school for how smart he is. All Freak needs to do is take out his anger in management
classes.

Anonymous said...

I think that Max should really start to give his self some credit because he is being friends with someone that really no body would really want to be friends with.I think that if I ever really mat Kevin AKA Freak that I would think that he was a lost first grader. I would not think that after he started to talk though. I think the same think as lily about if freak was here he would only be here to teach. Over all I think that It would be cool to have Freak and Max here would be cool.

Anonymous said...

Freak is to smart for his own size. And Seth is right he does need to anger management but he also needs to go some where he can show his smarts. Freak would not fit in at this school because for one freak is way to smart and most of the kids would be asking him questions all the time. Now if Max would come to our school he would fit in just fine . Although he would look like a giant compared to us he still is not very smart not saying that we are stupid and all but compared to Freak we kinda are. Freak The Mighty is a good book.

Anonymous said...

Desi I think you, and, Seth are right. All though it would be funny for freak to get mad at one of the teachers for telling him thats college stuff and you're in the sixth grade.

Anonymous said...

I think that Freak is to smart for his own size. And I think that Seth is right about Freak he does need to go to anger management. And Freak needs to go some where he can show his smarts. I think that Freak the Mighty is a good book it's really funny and Freak is smarter then Max.

loonyhiker said...

I love this book too and did a combined unit of English and History with this book. My class loved reading the book as well as studying medieval times.

Mr. McGuire said...

loonyhiker,

I think I might read Scieszka's Knights of the Kitchen Table first next year. It is a fun book and it would give students background on King Arthur. That is a great idea to teach about medieval times along with Freak.

Anonymous said...

Mr.McGuire I like this book alot. I have never read this book befor. I am so excited to hear what happens next. I can't wate to get back to schoolto hear what happens next. See you monday!

Anonymous said...

I really think that this book is good. I also can't wait to see the movie after we are finished with the book. The reason why I can't wait to see the movie is because it is probably like the book. Also I hope it is like the book because then we could understand the movie more. I hope everybody likes the movie if they like the book.

Mr. McGuire said...

In my opinion, the movie is never as good as the book. But I have heard the movie is really good.

Anonymous said...

freak the mighty is a very good book. i like how the characters teach us how to not only look at the physical appearence of people but their heart too.