Six children, each of whom is the product of a genetic experiment that has made them 98% human and 2% bird is the premise behind James Patterson’s edgy Sci-Fi series for kids and teens.

From the beginning, the book is a fun read. It’s told from the viewpoint of Max, a strong female character who is the oldest of the children. In her early teens, it is she who must protect the others while somehow raising them, keeping them together, and figuring out the world around them. Max and the others have only recently escaped the institution known as “the school” that was responsible for their mutations and are being hunted by the Erasers. The Erasers run the streets as humans but at any time can be descending upon the kids by Hummer or Helicopter, armed with bare claws or assault rifles. The action scenes that consist of everything from car chases and helicopter scouting to hand to hand combat are fast-paced and detailed drawing in the most reluctant of readers. The most menacing of the Erasers is Ari, who taunts Max and the others, partly because he has a connected past with them, which is further revealed later in the story.

The first book, The Angel Experiment centers on the fact that one of the children in Max’s care has been recaptured by the institute. As the others plan how to rescue her, the reader learns the back story of the testing and abuse they experienced from the institute. The scenes were nothing less than scary as we feel the horror, apprehension, and dismay the caged children experience.  Patterson takes his target audience and relates to them as he describe the emotions that come with being an adolescent mutant government experiment whose only real quest in life is to be normal, and have your parents back.

Will the kids ever go home again? What will become of the institute? Will the chip be removed? Who is the kid in the tunnel? What about the voice in Max’s head giving her instructions? Patterson’s novel is part fantasy, part cyber punk, and all Adventure at every turn.

If you go to www.jamespatterson.com and click on the Maximum Ride books, there’s an embarrassment of riches to be found: an interview with James Patterson, print and audio excerpts from each book, links to curriculum guides, lesson plans, and instructional materials from The New York Times Newspapers in Education Program. Then jump over to www.maximumride.com and zowie, there’s even more good stuff over there. You can read the first four to six chapters of each book in the series, handwritten in a spiral-bound notebook format, or listen to an audio recording of those chapters, narrated by Max, herself.