Lesson 25 — Activity 3: About the Author
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Lesson 25 — Activity 3: About the Author
Rodman Philbrick grew up in the United States in the state of New Hampshire. He has been writing novels since he was 16 years old. For a number of years, he wrote detective and mystery novels for adults.
Freak the Mighty is about two young boys who develop a friendship and a partnership to fight for good and true causes. It was written in 1993 and was his first young adult novel. According to Rod, the name to which he answers, he wrote the novel "because Max, the mighty half of Freak the Mighty, insisted and he's bigger than I am."
The inspiration for the character named Kevin (Freak) was his son's close friend who had died tragically. According to Rod, "It was my way of dealing with the loss." The real Kevin had the same medical condition as Freak in the novel, but a very different personality. Rod’s mother was the inspiration for the character named Gwen. Once he had the story in his head, Rod wrote the entire novel in one draft in about six weeks.
Freak the Mighty is about two young boys who develop a friendship and a partnership to fight for good and true causes. It was written in 1993 and was his first young adult novel. According to Rod, the name to which he answers, he wrote the novel "because Max, the mighty half of Freak the Mighty, insisted and he's bigger than I am."
The inspiration for the character named Kevin (Freak) was his son's close friend who had died tragically. According to Rod, "It was my way of dealing with the loss." The real Kevin had the same medical condition as Freak in the novel, but a very different personality. Rod’s mother was the inspiration for the character named Gwen. Once he had the story in his head, Rod wrote the entire novel in one draft in about six weeks.
In 1998, Freak the Mighty was made into a feature film called The Mighty. It starred Elden Henson as Max, Kieran Culkin as Kevin, and Sharon Stone as Gwen.
Rod’s latest novel for young adults, Zane and The Hurricane, A Story of Katrina, was published in March, 2014.
Watch this interview to learn more about Rod.
You can also get more information on Rod from his website. And there is information about him at the back of the novel.
Go to the next page to complete a Self-check Activity regarding Rodman Philbrick.
After that, you will gather some background information before you begin reading the novel. The more that you know about some of the topics in the novel, the easier it will be to understand what you read.