I thought of more books to add to this list! (since I only had 8/10 spots filled)
They've sprung into my mind on a number of occasions over the last few years, but I couldn't remember what they were called or who wrote them or anything, which made googling a bit tricky. But I managed to find them today! Which was very very satisfying.
They're some more books that I probably read around the same time I started the Maximum Ride series, and, like those, they served as some of my earliest exposure to certain ideas and concepts in fiction.
Throughout my childhood my family received a monthly catalogue from The Book People, from which my dad would order sets of books at discounted prices for me and my brother. One of these was a collection of books by Peter Dickinson, and the books I'm about to talk about all came from that collection.
The Kin - Peter Dickinson
Sometimes published as one book broken into four sections, other times as four separate books (my copy was the second kind), The Kin tells the story of a group of children during the early days of humanity, around the time that the use of spoken language was becoming common. Another example of outsider kids who no longer have a parental figure forming their own family unit and trying to survive, it's also an interesting look at what early humanity may have been like. An arc I particularly like involves the kids coming across a group of a different species of early humans, this group is not verbal and has their own culture and methods of communication.
Eva - Peter Dickinson
Set in the future, a girl is involved in a very severe accident and the decision is made to transfer her consciousness to a different body, as her's is beyond repair. The body they give to her belongs to an ape.
Again, we have the blending of human and non-human, morally questionable experiments, questions of identity and also a look at the kind of media attention that is created by this kind of unprecedented event.
The Lion Tamer's Daughter - Peter Dickinson
One word: Doppelgangers. Dark and creepy and I think my first real introduction to that concept. Definitely stuck with me for a long time.