The Capture (Guardians of Ga'Hoole, Book 1)

After Soren, a young owlet, is pushed from his family's nest by his older brother, he's plucked from the forest floor by agents from a mysterious school, the St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls. When Soren arrives at St. Aggie's, he suspects there is more to the school than meets the eye. He and his new friend, the clever and scrappy Gylfie, find out that St. Aggie's is actually a training camp where the school's leader can groom young owls to help achieve her goal--to rule the entire owl kingdom. In the first book in this series, the reader follows the adventures of Soren and Gylfie as they subvert the attempted brainwashing that takes place at St. Aggie's, learn to fly, and eventually escape from the evil school. Later they meet with two more orphaned owls, the indomitable Twilight and pensive Digger, and the four form a band as they journey to a refuge that may exist only in legend--the Great Ga'Hoole Tree.