Freak the Mighty explores the individual’s role in society through the two central characters of Max and Kevin. Both are misfits, and both struggle to cope with their disabilities and find their place in the world. Kevin, born with a birth defect, grows physically on the inside but not on the outside, leading to a great number of health challenges. While Kevin has physical disabilities, Max has mental ones, and he faces significant hardship in school. Despite their disabilities, the two form an inseparable pair together as Freak the Mighty, with Kevin teaching Max about the world around them and Max carrying Kevin on his shoulders. 

As this story is one in which the main characters find their place in the world together, their literal place in the world—the story’s setting—as well as what it represents are of great significance. While Philbrick has indicated that Freak the Mighty was to be set in and around Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he went to high school, the larger geographical location plays almost no part in the book. There are not, for example, distinctive weather, flora, or accents. Instead, two general categories provide all the settings for the action: social settings (especially domestic settings) and imaginary settings.

The first social setting is a series of snapshots of day care or school encounters between Kevin and Max. The main setting initially explored is Max’s basement bedroom, which is as much a cave or a refuge as it is a bedroom. The paneled walls buckle, but “down under” is a place for Max to hide away from an unfriendly world. It is a run-down and depressing place, but it is at least his own.

Except for Kevin’s house, the other social/domestic settings are even more depressing. Homes are generally symbols of poverty and social divisions. Rundown, crime-ridden, and impoverished, the New Tenements (called the “New Testaments”) are a sad and broken environment, one where people have no hope. Max’s father takes him to an old woman’s home, where they are intruders, and then to the filthy basement of a burned-out building. The conclusion is clear: in the world of Freak the Mighty, most homes are symbols of the torn and crippled families that live in them.

The larger social settings, such as the school, town, or hospital, are not always as depressing, but they are just as threatening and violent. Max never knows when a gang of thugs will threaten him or when an entire school classroom will start making fun of him. Here, too, the novel gives clear messages through its settings: communities are not always welcoming, and they will violently reject you if you are different.

The main exception to this comes when Max is with Kevin and the two boys escape into imaginary settings. Just as Kevin dreams of an escape into a bionic body free of pain, so the boys change a threatening town into a landscape for adventure. To some extent, their imaginary settings even become real: their quests inspired by the legend of King Arthur transform into a mission to return Loretta Lee’s purse. Escapism gives Max and Kevin a way to forget the pain of reality; in their imaginary world, Freak the Mighty is a hero, struggles are adventures, and the dangerous city where they live takes on a hopeful gleam.

“A Tribute to the Little Guy.” 2004. Bookseller, July, Issue 5136. This brief article contains useful quotations from Philbrick on how he got the idea for the novel.

“Freak the Mighty.” 1993. Publishers Weekly, 240 (64): 1. This brief article is useful because it is one of the main negative critiques of the novel.

Jones, Nicolette. 2004. “Children’s Book of the Week.” Sunday Times, September 12, p. 54. Jones praises many aspects of Freak the Mighty.

Makowski, Marilyn. 1994. “Reviews: Fiction.” Book Report, Vol. 12, Issue 5. This brief review is largely summary but devotes some space to praising the novel.

Smith, Diane. 2006. “An Open Book: For Preteens Who Keep Reading, the Future Is....” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, November 24. Smith’s news article discusses the use of Freak the Mighty in classroom reading programs.

Vasilakis, Nancy. 1994. “Freak the Mighty.” Horn Book Magazine, 70 (1): 74. Vasilakis summarizes and then recommends the novel for its finding of the universal in those whose appearance is different.

White, Libby K. 1993. “Book Review: Junior High Up.” School Library Journal, 39 (12): 137. White essentially raves about the novel, calling it “wonderful, different, and special.”

Zvirin, Stephanie. 1993. “Freak the Mighty.” Booklist, December 15, p. 747. This review usefully identifies the novel’s strengths and weaknesses.