Kids Who Are Different by Digby Wolfe
Here’s to the kids who are different,
The kids who don’t always get “A’s”,
The kids who have ears twice the size of their peers,
And noses that go on for days…
Here’s to the kids who are different,
The kids they call crazy or dumb,
The kids who don’t fit, with the guts and the grit,
Who dance to a different drum…
Here’s to the kids who are different,
The kids with the mischievous streak,
For when they have grown, as history’s shown,
It’s their difference that makes them unique.

How does this poem make you feel? Do you think difference among people is good? Why or why not?
Look around the room, how many of you look exactly alike?
What would it be like if you were all the same?

Friendship is a main theme in the novel.
Who is your best friend and what is one characteristic about this person that makes you like them so much?
What would you feel if one day your best friend moved away?
How would you react?

This is Kevin. He is very smart and like to read and think a lot. Kevin does not walk well. He uses crutches to walk and he is very small.

This is Max. He is very big and strong.
He does not like to think and can not read. He bullies people because he can not think as well as other kids.

Max and Kevin are friends. They invent nicknames for each other.
Kevin is called “freak” and Max is called
“mighty”

Kevin and Max become
“Freak the Mighty” and have lots of fun together.
Freak helps Mighty think and read.
Mighty helps Freak walk and go places.

Freak and Mighty go everywhere together. Soon they call themselves Freak the Mighty.

One day, Freak gets very ill and has to go to the hospital.
The doctors and nurses try hard to make Freak better again.

Freak does not get better and now The
Mighty has to be by himself again.
Max the Mighty is sad.

Kevin and Max use nicknames and their title to make their world a more exciting place. Why do you think their adventures are so important to their friendship?
Max always thinks he has people watching him.
This is probably because of his size. Do you think he can stop thinking that people are watching him? How?

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Do you and your close friends have names for one another?
Do you like being part of a group that identifies itself with a name?
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Do you ever hurt someone's feelings with a nickname?
Why do you think nicknames and titles are used? Do you think they are good or bad and why?

Kevin and Max are very different and yet they become one - Freak the Mighty.
Think about friendships you know about
- either yours or others. Why do you think those people are friends?
After you complete these questions, talk about your answers with a partner.

Kevin loves to play with language. Some examples are:
 p.31, “Whew! That was a close encounter of the turd kind.”
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 p.19, “Ah, yes… Television, the opiate of the massives.” p. 86, “Please, sir, more gruel.”
“Fair Gwen of Air”

Themes are lessons that can be learned from reading a book .The themes in
Freak the Mighty are friendship, appearance and acceptance.
How do you know these are the themes?

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Each person will be given a pair of scissors.
You are to use the hand you do not write with.
Cut out the stars on the paper and then glue them on to the construction paper.

It’s frustrating to cut with the hand you don’t normally use. For some kids a lot of things are hard, but they do not quit. When you do things a little different it means you’re unique and the world couldn’t be as great if we weren’t all a bit different from our neighbor.