Max the Mighty
Rodman Philbrick
 Maxwell Kane helps Rachel, nicknamed "Worm" because of her love of reading, run from her overly religious and abusive stepfather. Nicknamed "The Undertaker", he drives a hearse and wears pitch black clothing. The Undertaker accuses Max of kidnapping Rachel, so Max and Worm run safaway with Dippy Hippie on his bus, the Prairie Schooner. Along the way, they meet two con-artists, 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 hop a train with Hobo Joe and arrive in Chivalry, Montana. 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 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. Max frequently mentions his old friend Kevin, also nicknamed Freak, throughout the book.