Freak the Mighty
by Rodman Philbrick | Grades 4-8 | Lexile Level 930
This simple yet timeless story explores many themes, including bullying -- an important topic in today's schools. Two boys--a slow learner stuck in the body of a teenage giant and a tiny Einstein in leg braces--forge a unique friendship when they pair up to create one formidable human force.
At the beginning of eighth grade, learning disabled Max and his new friend Freak, whose birth defect has affected his body but not his brilliant mind, find that when they combine forces they make a powerful team.
"I never had a brain until Freak came along. . . ". That's what Max thought. All his life he'd been called stupid. Dumb. Slow. It didn't help that his body seemed to be growing faster than his mind. It didn't help that people were afraid of him. So Max learned how to be alone At least until Freak came along. Freak was weird, too. He had a little body -- and a really big brain. Together Max and Freak were unstoppable. Together, they were Freak the Mighty.