From the Publisher
This is the dramatic, heartwrenching tale of Max and Worm, two outsiders who turn to each other for survival. Written in a haunting yet uplifting first-person voice, this compelling novel is destined to become a classic.
Publishers Weekly
PW's starred review called this sequel to Freak the Mighty "a rip-roaring, heartwarming escapade." Ages 10-14. (Oct.)
Children's Literature
Max Kane can't help being the object of much attention, at school and in the neighborhood. After all, his great size, certainly remarkable for boys his age, draws many curious stares. This book, a sequel to the author's Freak the Mighty, relates new adventures for Max. He meets a shy girl, nicknamed the 'Worm,' short for bookworm because of her love of reading. When visiting her house, Max rescues the Worm from her cruel stepfather, known ominously as the Undertaker, who protects himself by informing police that Max has kidnapped his child. Frightened and uncertain of their next move, the pair takes off on a cross-country adventure where they encounter various characters and danger before facing a rematch with the Undertaker. The author has done a masterful job creating believable characters whom readers can readily relate to. This well-crafted tale should keep the attention of all readers, especially those who crave suspense-filled stories with touches of warmth and personal growth such as this one.
The ALAN Review
This is an adventure story about two kids, fourteen-year-old Maxwell Kane (Max the Mighty) and eleven-year-old Rachael (the Worm), and their flight across the country. Both come from dysfunctional families: Max's father is in prison for murdering his mother, and Rachael reads constantly as an emotional escape from abuse by her stepfather, the Undertaker. After the Undertaker falsely accuses Max of beating Rachael's mother and kidnapping the girl, they take off hitchhiking to find Rachael's real father in Chivalry, Montana. Along the way they are helped by Dippy Hippie, a retired teacher who travels the country in a psychedelic school bus, and Hobo Joe, who knows his way around the country on freight trains. When they arrive in Chivalry, they discover the town deserted and Rachael's father dead from a mining accident. After a exciting chase through the killer mine by Sheriff Goodman and the Undertaker, the kids emerge on the other side of the mountain into the waiting arms of Dippy Hippie and Max's grandfather, Grim. This deus ex machina ending aside, the novel offers fast-paced entertainment but little insight into the human condition. It is the sequel to Freak the Mighty (1993), the first of the "Mighty" books which has been made as a major motion picture called, The Mighty.
School Library Journal
Gr 4-7There ought to be a law against churning out thoughtless sequels to great books. Max, introduced in Freak the Mighty (Scholastic, 1993), reluctantly runs away with Worm, the 11-year-old stepdaughter of a delusional and abusive street character he calls "the Undertaker." Hitchhiking west in search of Worm's real father, thought to be living in Chivalry, Montana, they are picked up by a widowed ex-teacher called "Hippy-Dippy," who is traveling in a `70s-style, reconditioned school bus. Their ride is interrupted by a chance meeting with an unsavory pair of con artists who recognize Max as the young teen kidnapper for whom a $10,000 bounty is being offered; the youngsters then take off and continue their journey by hopping trains. With "the Undertaker" in hot pursuit, they make it to their destination, a ghost town haunted by a catastrophic mine cave-in. There, the police, the Undertaker, Hippy-Dippy, and Max's grandfather are waiting for them. Enormous caverns of logic exist with the most obvious ones jumping out: where could the Undertaker come up with $10,000 reward money, who would take him seriously, wouldn't his checkered past spring to fluorescent light, and why would he seriously pursue this child in the first place? The emotional centerthe gripping relationship between Max and Freakis sorely missing here; readers are unlikely to connect with any of the cartoonlike characters assembled. The Hollywood ending is also lacking any semblance of credibility. Instead of this title, purchase an additional copy of the first book.Marilyn Payne Phillips, University City Public Library, MO
Horn Book Magazine
Maxwell Kane, the guileless, oversized hero of Freak the Mighty (rev. 1/94), returns in this sequel, a little smarter and no less courageous than when we first met him. Now fourteen, Max comes to the rescue of a younger girl, Worm (short for Bookworm), who is in imminent danger of being abused by her creepy stepfather. Impulsively, Max kidnaps her, and the two set out to find her real father on a journey that leads them across the country to Chivalry, Montana. Philbrick uses Arthurian imagery, much as he did in the earlier novel, to underscore the theme. "It's all about fighting for honor and protecting the innocent and never giving up even if the whole world is against you," Worm says, describing a book she's reading about the knights of the round table. The world does seem to bear them a grudge: they are attacked by wild dogs and betrayed by a couple of con artists during their travels. But they find friends, too, who offer them food and shelter and usher them to their final destination. The characters and plot sometimes threaten to stretch the reader's sense of reality to its limits. Worm's villainous stepfather-"a street crazy with a mean streak"-for example, dresses in black, is called the Undertaker, and drives a rusty old hearse. And except for the two protagonists, the characters seem more colorful than fully fleshed out. But the two who matter the most grab your attention and engage your heart. A poignant figure, Worm is less outlandish than Max, and her surprising revelations at the end about her father have a logical consistency to them. When it's all over and Max is vindicated, his insistence that the "unvanquished truth" is that he will never be normal holds unexpected layers of meaning.
Kirkus Reviews
In this sequel to Freak the Mighty (1993), Max, the freakishly gigantic child, comes to the rescue of Rachel, called Worm because of her devotion to books. When he takes her away from her abusive stepfather, the Undertaker, Max is accused of kidnapping, and the two embark on a cross-country odyssey to find her real father. Pursued by police and the vengeful Undertaker, they make their way to Montana, where Worm's father was killed years before in a mine disaster and where they face a final confrontation with the Undertaker in the depths of the mine. While the book is populated by stock characters from central casting (an aging hippie in a '60s-style bus, a train-hopping hobo with a heart of gold, a pair of charming con artists, and, of course, the evil Undertaker), Philbrick avoids making it into a cartoon. The story moves along at a good clip, the friendship between Max and Worm is warm, and the other characters give the proceedings a touch of melodrama. Despite Max's certainty that happy endings don't happen, everything is tied up satisfyingly at the end. (Fiction. 10-14)
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