Future scientist Madeline Little is dreading the start of middle school. Nothing has been right since her grandfather died and her best friend changed schools. Maddie would rather help her father in his research lab or write Standard Operating Procedures in her lab notebook than hang out with a bunch of kids who aren’t even her friends. Despite Maddie’s reluctance, some new friends start coming … coming her way–until they discover what she’s written in that secret notebook. And that’s just part of the trouble. Can this future scientific genius find the formula for straightening out her life?
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Maddie Little is having such difficulty with the loss of her grandpa, and it does not help when a barrel of other trials occurs. She and Elizabeth aren’t best friends anymore, she had almost friends yet lost them instantly, and her sister, Brooke, seems to hate her even more. Why does Middle School have to be so hard? Is there a survival guide to make it through? Unfortunately for Maddie, science does not solve everything, especially with life.
Science is my second favorite subject in school, so it was a lot of fun reading about a protagonist who was a science geek. I mean, it was such a serious thing for Maddie, like swabbing everything insight literally to see what bacteria will grow on a petri dish. I’m not like that in any way, but I’m definitely “weird” in another way, which was quite relatable.
If I’m honest, criticizing is my favorite part of writing book reviews, which is why I tend to start with the negative first. So, let’s start there, shall we?
One of Maddie’s almost friends, Katherine-with-a-K, was quite annoying. She literally spelled everything out because she was a spelling bee champion. Reading text in T-H-I-S W-A-Y got on my nerves, and generally, I read her parts of dialogue as if it was normal. Thankfully, she was not in many scenes in the novel, which is why I did not let that keep me from reading it.
Another thing that annoyed me was how it felt like conversations were interrupted. Like when Maddie and her family talked, new topics were brought into the conversation even though a previous one was complete. And then it’s not until a little later that they finish the last discussion. It just felt unnatural and as if the author did not know how to write a conversation between more than 2 people in certain scenes.
Also, the character development was not all that great. It felt like the characters did not have much personality except Maddie and Brooke a little bit. Although Maddie’s almost friends were interested in unusual things, that did not develop them in any way. There was nothing super unique that stood out about them.
One last thing that I didn’t like was how the plot did not necessarily fit with the title. When I began reading the novel, I thought that Maddie would try to create an experiment on friendship, trying to figure out why they don’t last forever. Instead, friendship means that she would have issues in that area, and the experiment emphasized that she was into science. That disappointed me a wee little bit.
Now, let’s move onto the good.
The lessons were well written. A primary value in the novel was that friendship is all about honesty. When you are honest with one another, it keeps the line of communication open and brings trust. You began to realize that you can rely on them. That is the actual SOP (standard operating procedure) to follow in Middle School.
I also enjoyed reading all the SOP’s that Maddie wrote up in her “science” notebook. They were so funny! It almost makes me want to write my own for specific scenarios.
So, would I recommend this novel? If you do not mind what I disliked, then I think you probably would like it. Oh, and don’t forget the tissues! Several sentimental scenes will make you tear up a little.
The Friendship Experiment, by Erin Teagan, is the first book of the year assigned in the Parent-Teen Book Club at my son’s middle school. I have to imagine most of the other books in the club we’ll be reading will be middle grade as well….
Maddie’s grandfather, a famous scientist and the person she most looks up to in the world, died over the summer. It was her grandfather who showed her how to write a standard operating procedure (SOP) for tackling any difficult problem in her life. It was her grandfather who encouraged her most in swabbing gross things she finds so she can culture them in agar later and see what grows. And she could really use his advice now, because Maddie just started sixth grade at her new middle school, and things are not going well.
Her best friend from elementary school, who wants to be a scientist just like Maddie, is going to a private school so they hardly ever see each other. The new kids in her classes are weird, especially Riley, who went to Space Camp over the summer and wants to be an astronaut, but is really just a show-off. And her older sister’s Von Willebrand Disease (a type of hemophilia), which Maddie also has, seems to be getting worse. Things are so much more complicated than when she was in elementary school. Without her grandfather’s guidance, how will Maddie deal with these new problems?
This is a really fun book. I mean, it’s just easy to read, Maddie is so likable, and everything moves at a nice, brisk pace. It’s slightly quirky but not enough to be off-putting. I do have one objection, and that’s that one of the major plot twists in the book is lifted straight from Harriet the Spy (do kids not read that book anymore?). I don’t want to give away the twist, but if you’ve read Harriet you probably have a good idea which scene I mean. But this is a great book for middle schoolers, especially those who like science, and their parents who’ve joined them in book clubs.