The Friendship Experiment

September 12, 2016
Scientifically minded Madeline Little, an 11-year-old with an inherited blood-clotting disorder, is beginning middle school with two chips on her shoulder. One is fueled by resentment that her best friend has transferred to a private school. The other involves her anger over her parents’ decision to sell her scientist grandfather’s house now that he has died. Madeline’s feelings emerge as sarcasm and meanness toward her peers, but after a series of disasters, she recognizes that although she shares her grandfather’s passion for microbiology, she hasn’t followed his advice: “The most important thing in life is to be kind. Always kind.” This portrait of a complicated preteen contains perhaps a few too many issues and simultaneously occurring crises to be thoroughly explored and convincingly resolved, including Madeline’s struggles with friends old and new, a serious mishap at her father’s lab, and her older sister’s brush with death. Even so, first-time author Teagan underscores the importance of compassion and forgiveness as she provides thoughtful insight into a girl working hard to try to maintain control over a life filled with unwelcome developments. Ages 10–12. Agent: Marie Lamba, Jennifer De Chiara Literary.

A middle schooler who wants more homework might sound unusual, but Maddie is not your average sixth-grader.Maddie has known for a long time that she wants to be a scientist. But after her grandfather dies of Alzheimer's, her sister starts to get sicker from the blood disorder that runs in the family, and her best friend goes to a private school that assigns far more homework than Maddie's public school ever will, life gets confusing. She tries to make sense of it in her lab notebook, where she writes standard operating procedures for just about everything, including How to Survive Lunch at a Table of Misfit Know-It-Alls. But when the kids at her lunch table read her SOPs, their feelings get very hurt, and Maddie is confronted with the idea that maybe science can't solve everything, that maybe it's time to give kindness a chance. Teagan offers a smart, breezy narrative that is both clever and approachable, offering a fresh twist on the familiar topic of middle school angst. Her characters are realistic and funny as they fumble through early adolescence and grapple with the reality of change. Absent markers to the contrary, readers will likely infer that the characters are largely white. Highly enjoyable for aspiring scientists, budding artists, and regular kids. (Fiction. 9-12) COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 15, 2016
Grades 4-7 Ever since Maddie's scientist grandfather died, she's been carrying on his traditional approach to problem-solving: there's a standard operating procedure (SOP) for everything. Maddie writes down her step-by-step solutions in her trusty science notebook, and they're for everything from How to Survive a Needle (she and her sister, Brooke, have a hereditary blood disease that requires plenty of trips to the doctor) to How to Be Friendly (Maddie's best friend switched schools, leaving Maddie alone at lunch). But these days, the SOPs aren't doing their job. Brooke isn't taking their illness seriously, and Maddie doesn't know how to convince her. Then there's Riley, the new science-obsessed girl who just moved to town and is trying to be Maddie's friendif only she weren't so annoying. Practical Maddie has a lot to learn about other people, and her journey will be an eye-opening one for many. Science-minded readers will cheer to meet their match in Maddie as she conquers her demons and learns what exactly it means to haveand bea friend.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

Starred review from August 15, 2016
A middle schooler who wants more homework might sound unusual, but Maddie is not your average sixth-grader.Maddie has known for a long time that she wants to be a scientist. But after her grandfather dies of Alzheimer's, her sister starts to get sicker from the blood disorder that runs in the family, and her best friend goes to a private school that assigns far more homework than Maddie's public school ever will, life gets confusing. She tries to make sense of it in her lab notebook, where she writes standard operating procedures for just about everything, including How to Survive Lunch at a Table of Misfit Know-It-Alls. But when the kids at her lunch table read her SOPs, their feelings get very hurt, and Maddie is confronted with the idea that maybe science can't solve everything, that maybe it's time to give kindness a chance. Teagan offers a smart, breezy narrative that is both clever and approachable, offering a fresh twist on the familiar topic of middle school angst. Her characters are realistic and funny as they fumble through early adolescence and grapple with the reality of change. Absent markers to the contrary, readers will likely infer that the characters are largely white. Highly enjoyable for aspiring scientists, budding artists, and regular kids. (Fiction. 9-12)

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 1, 2017
Sixth grader Madeline Little is reeling from her beloved grandfather's death and her sister's worsening genetic blood disorder (a disorder Madeline shares)--not to mention starting middle school without her best friend. Future scientist Madeline, whose bedroom is filled with petri dishes that give off unspeakable smells, copes with the changes by writing SOPs (standard operating procedures) in her lab notebook, providing herself with instructions for every unfamiliar situation she encounters, from avoiding unwanted conversations with quirky classmates to inventorying supplies in her father's lab. Most of the SOPs deal with the classmates she reluctantly befriends, leading to a Harriet the Spy-like outcome when she accidentally leaves the notebook at new girl Riley's house. Teagan takes the story beyond the classic middle-school conflict by also blending in family drama pertaining to the inherited blood disorder. Although some of the secondary characters border on caricature, Madeline's prickly independence and sense of herself ("Even though I'm the younger sister, I'm the one who inherited all the family genius." "Who needs friends when you have your own lab bench?") result in a character whose evolution is highly satisfying. sarah rettger

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)