The Angel Experiment (Maximum Ride, Book 1) by James Patterson

Max is like any other girl. Except she has lived most of her life in a cage. And she is super strong. Oh, and she is being chased and followed, possibly to her death. And she has five family members, but she is not really related to them. She also has voices in her head telling her what to do, but not in the creepy death way. Oh yeah, and she has wings that let her fly. So maybe Max is nothing like other girls, but she still wants what they have. A safe house, homemade chocolate chip cookies, and some parents who love her. Max is fourteen, but instead she feels like a mom to the other mutant genetic freaks she calls family. Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel also had their DNA intertwined with bird DNA. The six of them do whatever they can to stay safe, and alive, while being chased by erasers (creepy wolf-men), and find the secrets to their past: who did this to them, why, and did they ever have parents or were they just lab-created test-tube babies? Join Max as she finds out.

Warning! You may want to get all of the Maximum Ride books at once so you can continue reading, because once you start--you won't want to stop! This is the first of five books in the series and it leaves you wanting more! Max has a sarcastic persona about her that makes you feel as though you are really 14 and doing everything right along with her. All the characters are intense and have amazing individualistic aspects to them. Whether it's learning what makes them tick or figuring out their new ability right along with them, you feel for these freaky, mutant bird kids. This book is a perfect, action packed, sci-fi novel, especially for those who claim to hate the genre. Max narrates, in first person, and other alternate characters are narrated in third person. It moves really fast with short, interesting chapters that make you want more. I highly recommend this series for anyone who enjoys action, adventure, danger, sci-fi, fantasy, or teenagers in their stories. It really captures everything you would want in a book.

Gr. 6-11