Teens’ Top Ten Nominee for 2008: Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports by James Patterson

Maximum Ride (Max for short), Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy and Angel. Part human-part avian. Ages 6 to 14.

“Bird-kids”: the result of genetic experimentation performed at the “school”, a high tech laboratory. Their DNA is infused with avian DNA.

Aided by a talking dog named Total, they are trying to save the world from the wicked scientists who want a select a population to be reengineered into a most superior of races. The kids will have to fight the “erasers” who are human-lupine (wolf) hybrids. Then there are also the “flyboys” to contend with, made mostly of metal but with a thin “eraser” covering on the outside.

Along the way they are captured by the flyboys and taken back to the school where Max is told everything that has happened was all a dream. Was it? Angel suddenly seems to have gone over to the other side. Has she really changed or is she actually playing mind games to stay one step ahead of the scientists? Can Max and the others survive the flyboys and scientists and save us all from this diabolical scheme?

This is the 3^rd book in a great series for young adults about “Maximum Ride”.

Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports is a nominee for the 2008 Teens’ Top 10. o read more about the Teens’ Top Ten program, click here. To request it from the library, click here. And don’t forget to place your vote during Teen Read Week, October 12-18, 2008.

Reviewed by Katherine S. @ Southgate Library