I am a college-educated, Jane Austen-loving, NPR-listening, SUV-driving mom. In short, I’m a grown-up; what’s more, I’ve been a grown-up for a very long time. (Don’t ask.) But I am also the doting aunt to four teenage girls. Far from delicate hot-house flowers, they are full of attitude, smart and smart-alecky, gorgeous, poised to launch their size-4 selves into the world and aiming to make a crater-sized impact. So when I had a chance to read and review Maximum Ride 3, I let go of my grown-up sense and sensibilities and put on my auntie-colored reading glasses. Would I like the book? That wasn’t the question. Would my nieces like it? Oh boy howdy, would they ever.

“Maximum Ride” — Max for short — is the name of the book’s heroine, a 14-year-old girl with the fate of the world in her hands and a pair of 13-foot wings on her shoulders. Genetically engineered to be two-percent bird (I know – stay with me here), she escapes from the lab where she was raised and, leading a flock of other bird-kids, sets out to save the world from the scientists who created them (one might even say fathered them). All the big adolescent-angst themes are here: rebellion against the adults who created you, feeling tragically misunderstood, forsaking the family you were born into while proclaiming your deepest love and allegiance to your peers. Throw in a little kissing and a fair amount of violence against robots, and you have the perfect book for tweens and early teens … and aunties who are recovering Buffy fans. (I admit it! I liked it! I loved it! Go Max!!! Spread those wings and FLY GIRL!!!!! (Ahem … pausing to compose myself…)

More than anything, James Patterson drives home a belief that every teenager should hold dear: Kids working together can make a difference in the world.

This, to me, is the single best thing about this book. Will Maximum Ride get kids excited about reading? Absolutely. More than that, though, I hope it gets them excited about their own strength, and the power they have to save the world from the sorry mess we grown-ups are leaving behind. To fight evil, love what is good, and kick some butt in the process.