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In Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick, how does Kevin help Max in school?

Kevin is amazing because he doesn't believe that his friend Max can't learn. In an effort to help Max to believe in himself, Kevin appoints himself as Max's tutor. First, Kevin introduces Max to the dictionary and shows him how to look up words that he doesn't understand. Then, because Maxwell helps Kevin by traveling on his shoulders, they are allowed to go to the smart classes together. Max is excited to get out of the learning disabled classes and Kevin promises to help him as well. Next, Kevin makes Max his own personal dictionary for Christmas, which is original and unique only for him. Finally, Kevin gets Max a journal to write down all of their adventures together. When Max says that he knows he can't write, Kevin says the following:



"I won't have the time, so you'll have to do it. Just write it all down like you're talking. Put in all the fun we had, the cool things we did. Our adventures" (151).



All of these things inspire Max to write down the boys' stories together, even though he doesn't feel sure of himself. All that Max needed was to have confidence in himself and a little direction as to how to tackle reading and writing. Kevin does this for him. By the time Max finishes writing the book, he feels so much better about his learning abilities and he says that he will pick up more books to read in the future. 

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