The Angel Experiment
Fourteen-year-old Maximum Ride, better known as Max, knows what it's like to soar above the world. She and all the members of the "flock"—Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman and Angel—are just like ordinary kids...only they have wings and can fly. It may seem like a dream come true to some, but their lives can morph into a living nightmare at any time.
When Angel, the youngest member of the flock, is kidnapped and taken back to the "School" where she and the others were experimented on by a crew of wack jobs, her friends brave a journey to blazing hot Death Valley to save her. But soon enough, they find themselves in yet another nightmare – this one involving fighting off the half-human, half-wolf "Erasers" in New York City.
Whether in the treetops of Central Park or in the bowels of the Manhattan subway system, Max and her adopted family take the ride of their lives. Along the way Max discovers that her old friend and father-figure Jeb has betrayed her and must now be considered the Flock's greatest enemy. Max soon realises that her new purpose is to save the world – but can she?
ALA Teens' Top Ten (2005); Abraham Lincoln Award Nominee (2008)
About the Maximum Ride Series
Books in series order
- 1.The Angel Experiment(2005)
- 2.School's Out Forever(2006)
- 3.Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports(2007)
- 4.The Final Warning(2008)
- 5.Max(2009)
- 6.Fang(2010)
- 7.Angel(2011)
- 8.Nevermore(2012)
- 9.Maximum Ride Forever(2015)
Reading age: 11+ years
This series should be read in order.
Many kids daydream about having wings and being able to soar across the sky. Be careful what you wish for. For the narrator, 14-year-old Max, it’s no dream.
Maximum Ride is Max’s full name, and she lives with her close-knit 'family': They may not be related to her by blood, but the six of them – Fang, 14; Iggy, 14 and blind; Nudge, 11; the Gasman, 8; and his little sister, Angel, 6 – have spent the past four years hiding out at a house high in the mountains. The six children were bred by scientists who, as an experiment, grafted avian DNA onto their human genes, and kept them in cages in a science lab/prison called the School. They’re 98% human, and 2% avian. They’ve all got wings. And they can fly.
The scientists have developed another mutant group, part human, part wolf, called Erasers. They look human, but can morph at will into fanged and bloodthirsty wolf men. When Max's nightly nightmare of being discovered by Erasers comes true one morning, Angel is kidnapped and taken back to the School. Max and her flock set out on a rescue mission, which, if there are no interruptions, will span 600 miles and 7 hours of flying time. But, unfortunately, there are many interruptions...
(Teachers' Pick series)