Max the Mighty is a children's

Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

 novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 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 1998, it is the sequel to Freak the Mighty

Freak the Mighty

Freak the Mighty is a young adult novel by Rodman Philbrick. Published in 1995, it was l Max the Mighty in 1998. The primary characters are friends Maxwell Kane, a large, very slow, but kind-hearted boy, and Kevin Avery, nicknamed “Freak,” who is physically crippled but very intelligent...

.

Plot

On this sequel

Sequel

A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...

 to 1993's Freak the Mighty

Freak the Mighty

Freak the Mighty is a young adult novel by Rodman Philbrick. Published in 1995, it was l Max the Mighty in 1998. The primary characters are friends Maxwell Kane, a large, very slow, but kind-hearted boy, and Kevin Avery, nicknamed “Freak,” who is physically crippled but very intelligent...

, Maxwell Kane helps Rachel Sandesa, nicknamed "Worm" because of her love of reading, run from her overly religious and abusive stepfather. Nicknamed "The Undertaker", he drives in a hearse

Hearse

A hearse is a funerary vehicle used to carry a coffin from a church or funeral home to a cemetery. In the funeral trade, hearses are often called funeral coaches.-History:...

 and wears all dark black clothing. The Undertaker accuses Max of kidnapping Worm, so Max and Worm run away with Dippy Hippie on his bus, the Prairie Schooner. Along the way, they meet two con-men, Frank and Joanie, who read about Max and Worm and a money reward for finding them. Frank then turns them in, and Max and Worm have to leave the Prairie Schooner. To take them the rest of the way they go on a Train with Hobo Joe and arrive in Chivalry

Chivalry

Chivalry is a term related to the medieval institution of knighthood which has an aristocratic military origin of individual training and service to others. Chivalry was also the term used to refer to a group of mounted men-at-arms as well as to martial valour...

, Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

. They go into a mining tunnel and Max discovers that Worm's birth father has already died in a mining accident. The Undertaker arrives there with the police and Max and Worm run away in the tunnels. They meet Dip, and Max's grandfather, Grim. The police catch them, and then Worm runs back into the tunnel. She thinks about committing suicide to be with her father, but Max talks her out of it. The book ends with Worm and her mother coming to live with Max and his grandparents