Freak the Mighty is a young adult novel by Rodman Philbrick

Rodman Philbrick

Rodman Philbrick is an author of novels for adults and children. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1951, and currently lives in Maine and Florida. Since 1980 he has been married to Lynn Harnett, who sometimes co-writes with him. They have no children. He has also written using the pen names...

. Published in 1995, it was l Max the Mighty

Max the Mighty

Max the Mighty is a children's novel by Rodman Philbrick. Published in 1998, it is the sequel to Freak the Mighty.-Plot:On this sequel to 1993's Freak the Mighty, Maxwell Kane helps Rachel Sandesa, nicknamed "Worm" because of her love of reading, run from her overly religious and abusive stepfather...

in 1998. The primary characters are friends Maxwell Kane, a large, very slow, but kind-hearted boy

Boy

A boy is a young male human , as contrasted to its female counterpart, girl, or an adult male, a man.The term "boy" is primarily used to indicate biological sex distinctions, cultural gender role distinctions or both...

, and Kevin Avery, nicknamed “Freak,” who is physically crippled but very intelligent. (In the film, Kevin's last name was changed to Dillon.) Kevin is diagnosed with Morquio syndrome

Morquio syndrome

Morquio's syndrome is an autosomal recessive mucopolysaccharide storage disease , usually inherited. It is a rare type of birth defect with serious consequences...

. At the end of the book is Freak's Dictionary of words.

The novel was adapted for the screen under the title The Mighty

The Mighty

The Mighty is a 1998 drama film based on the book Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick.-Plot:Kevin is a 12-year-old boy who suffers Mucopolysaccharidosis IV, or Morquio syndrome. He is extremely intelligent and prone to flights of fancy, but is physically crippled and is forced to walk with crutches...

by Charles Leavitt

Charles Leavitt

Charles Leavitt is an American screenwriter best known for writing the 2006 film Blood Diamond.-Biography:After writing the 1996 film The Sunchaser, the 1998 film The Mighty and the 2002 film K-PAX, Leavitt was hired by Warner Bros. in February 2004 to rewrite an early draft of the film Blood...

; the film was shot in Toronto, Canada and Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...

, and directed by Peter Chelsom

Peter Chelsom

Peter Chelsom is a British actor and film director. He has directed among others such films as Shall We Dance? and Hannah Montana: The Movie...

, and released in 1998.
Many years after his times in Daycare, Maxwell Kane, narrating the book, has failed seventh grade twice in Middle School when he finds out that Freak (Kevin Avery), his only buddy from Daycare, is moving into the house next door with his mother, Gwen Avery (Fair Guinevere).