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Maximum Ride, Book 1: The Angel Experiment

(2006, Fiction - Science Fiction, Written by James Patterson)
  • Is it age appropriate?

    About our ratings

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    Not age appropriate for kids under 10, age appropriate for kids over 11; suggested age 11.
  • Is it any good?

    3.0
  • Common Sense says

    OK series launch about flock of mutants. Tweens.

Why We Rated This on for Ages 11 and Up

The good stuff

  • Messages:

    The heroes steal money and a car.
 

What to watch out for

  • Violence:

    Lots, some pretty brutal, with blood, broken noses and bones, knocked-out teeth, and some deaths, guns, explosions, and car chases.
  • Sex:

    A kiss.
  • Language:

    Not an issue.
  • Consumerism:

    Some mentioned directly: soda, cookie, electronics, games. Some thinly disguised, such as AFO Schmidt instead of FAO Schwartz.
  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

    Not an issue.
 

What Parents Need to Know

About Maximum Ride, Book 1: The Angel Experiment

Parents need to know that there is a lot of violence here, some of it quite brutal, including serious injuries. There are broken noses and bones, knocked-out teeth, and some deaths, guns, explosions, and car chases. The marketing for this book is also pretty intense, including Blogspot and MySpace pages and a contest to put together a tie-in music CD.

Did this review help you decide?

Families Can Talk About

  • Families can talk about the idea of human and animal experimentation and whether or not it's ethical. In the book, the scientists are clearly the bad guys, but are these types of experiments ever justified? You can also discuss the book's marketing. Why the tie-in CD and Web sites? Are there different standards for book and movie marketing? Could this kind of aggressive, movie-style marketing of a book actually be a good thing, or is it just manipulative?

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Our Members Say

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  • What did you think about Maximum Ride, Book 1: The Angel Experiment?
  •  I think this book is

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See all 35 member reviews

Most Recent Reviews

  1. I rate this title on for age 10 and give it 5.0
    My concerns are:
    • Excessive violence

    Lots of violence, but a great series.

    I LOVE THIS SERIES!!!! I've just discovered Maximum Ride, and I think it's the best. However, there is A LOT of violence in the series.But it's a great book, I highly recomend it.

  2. I rate this title on for age 10 and give it 5.0
    My concerns are:
    • Excessive violence

    Lots of violence, but a great series.

    I LOVE THIS SERIES!!!! I've just discovered Maximum Ride, and I think it's the best. However, there is A LOT of violence in the series.But it's a great book, I highly recomend it.

  3. I rate this title iffy for age 10 and give it 1.0
    My concerns are:
    • Excessive violence
    • Inappropriate language

    YUCK

    This is a bad and extremely violent book. There is nothing happy in this book, you will like this book if you books with death, blood, and depressing things!

  4. I rate this title on for age 10 and give it 3.0

    A exciting start to the series, this book succeeded in having me interested. But soon it just gets worse and worse, until the whole plot is a jumble and things are left unexplained eg. The Voice? A vaguely fun read followed by even worse ones.

  5. Parent Reviewer
    I rate this title on for age 12 and give it 4.0
    My concerns are:
    • Excessive violence

    • My highlights are:
    • Positive messages

    Great series, careful of the violence with easily-scared kids

    I am an EXTREMELY picky mom (for example, there's absolutely no way I'll let my kids read the Twilight series until they're 15 or 16, and we have no TV) - I'll just say that right up front. My daughter is 11, and a very innocent 11, but I didn't think the kiss was too much. I also didn't think the violence was too much, though there was a lot. I would recommend this book for 12+-year-olds, give or take, depending on what they've been exposed to, but I'd especially recommend it for reluctant readers (exciting, very short chapters).

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