Title: The Angel Experiment
Author: James Patterson
Pages: 422
Pub: 2007; Little Brown
Genre: Middle Grades, Science Fiction, Action
Etc: Series recommended by one of my students
The Short of It
Genetic engineering: children who can fly.
The Long of It
The Thoughts about It
I can see how students would get into the series. It’s easy to read and action packed. Plus, although the book is large for kids, the chapters are, like, only a page or two pages long. Makes reading seem less intimidating. (I’m contemplating reading a chapter a day out loud next year to my new classes since I’ve requested to take the lowest in our grade level).
Also, Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment proves my point (to myself, even!) that it’s important not to judge a book without getting a fair amount of information. I never would have read this book if a student of mine hadn’t requested me to. You see, I just glanced at the cover and saw angels and thought to myself, “no thank you”. I’m not interested in angels AT ALL. I find them so over the top that I can’t suspend my disbelief long enough to get into the stories. (Yes, yes, I can believe in vampires and werewolves and EVEN zombies and unicorns…but NOT angels!) So I thought this was about a group of children angels running around doing what angels do. (What is it that they do? Guard people?)
But it’s not. Thank goodness. It’s about genetic experiments and how this group of six kids create a family amongst themselves fighting to stay alive from evil doing scientists. Are all of James Patterson’s reads like this one? (I know he has another book out…something about Wizards?).
Overall I will end up reading the whole series. I’d even like to purchase it for my classroom. I think that after doing a booktalk it will catch the interest of both my boys and girls.
(Right now I’m on Book Five! I won’t review the rest of the series but if anyone has questions, I’ll be happy to answer them).
I read the first three (that was all that were out) to my at-risk classes a couple of years ago and they LOVED them. There was something about the dynamic between the characters that my kids absolutely loved.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read past those three, but I have been meaning to, just to see it how it all comes together. :)
I've only read the first few in a series, but I can definitely see how kids would really enjoy the story.
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