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Bibliographic Information:
The Angel Experiment (Maximum Ride Book #1) by James Patterson
ISBN: 978-0316155564
2005, Little Brown and Company, Boston, MA
Plot Summary:
Max is a teen girl who was created in a
lab with 2% bird DNA, which made her a super human, along with all of her
friends. They are referred to as the Flock.
Max and five of her friends escaped from
the lab, dubbed the School, with the help of scientist Jeb. Jeb helped the kids
learn to live ordinary human lives, but then he disappeared. The kids had to
learn to fend for themselves.
The scientists at the lab also created
other super humans, with wolf DNA, they call the Erasers. The Erasers acted as
guards at the school and now they are pursuing the escaped children.
The book really takes off with the
abduction of six year old Angel. Max and the others pursue her and find that
she’s been taken back to the school. They develop a plan to free Angel and
escape together again.
Meanwhile, Angel sees scientist Jeb again,
while they are performing tests on her. The whole experience is confusing and
scary.
The kids flee to New York to try and find
information about the families they come from. Jeb and his son Ari pursue them,
but the Flock stays one step ahead of them through this book.
This is the first in a series of action adventure,
thrillers for young adults.
Critical Evaluation:
The strongest theme
throughout this thriller is family. Max and the other kids in the Flock have
formed a family unit and they will not abandon each other. When Angel is
abducted, it is not even a question that Max and her family unit with rescue
her.
After saving Angel, Max
and the rest of the kids choose to look for their human family, who must exist.
The family unit that the kids have developed is so strong that they can only
think to trust people who would be their family.
One problem with the
text is the alternation between the first person telling from Max and the third
person, omniscient telling of chapters that do not involve Max. This gives the
audience knowledge of the plot that the characters do not all have. The third
person telling lets the audience know what is going on outside of Max’s
surroundings.
The characters seem to
be developing in this installment of the series, but they are not fully formed.
Some of the problem with character development is that the kids were raised in
a lab and other aspects hampering character development is that they are
between 6 and 14 years old, hardly fully actualized human beings yet.
There is a definite
expression that the characters who are “white coats” are the bad guys in the
series. They perform experiments on children and keep them trapped in the
School. This is evil and unethical. The fact that many of the experiments do
not survive is traumatizing and makes the urgency of the Flock’s escape even
more dire.
Reader’s Annotation:
There is a secret fight going on among lab created super-humans. Max needs you to witness.
Author Information:
Born
on March 22, 1947, in Newburgh, New York, James Patterson is a prolific author
who has written detective stories, thrillers, science fiction, romance and
young adult novels. His first book was published in 1976; 20 years later he
left his advertising career to focus on writing. Patterson holds the Guinness World
Record for having the most books on The New York Times' best-seller
list.
Retrieved
from http://www.biography.com/people/james-patterson-9434791
on 8/5/2015
Genre(s):
Thriller, Action/Adventure
Curriculum Ties: N/A
Booktalk Ideas: Book talks on action and suspense novels and series. Discussions about ethics.
Reading level: Grade 5+
Interest age: 10+
Challenge Issues: No known challenge issues at this time.
Why I chose this book: This book is the first in a very popular action series for teens.
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