Erin Teagan

When I received this book with a number of others in a bulk purchase, I was quite skeptical about it, but decided to have a quick read before deciding whether to keep it or discard it. I have ended up deciding to keep it, after reading it all the way through, despite the cover looking too modern for our library.
There were some attitudes that I did not like. One of the girls tried to run everything her own way, without regard to others’ feelings or needs. Another couldn’t be bothered to show more read or follow directions. All five of the girls in the team blatantly disobeyed the rules at one point. However, over the course of the week of Space Camp, all five realized they were in the wrong, and they all changed. The disobedience received consequences. I didn’t see anything wrong that was not addressed in a healthy way. I also didn’t notice any feminism; there were equal numbers of boys and girls, and they were all treated alike. show less

I really wanted to like this. Kids who like school and learning? Girls in STEM? Kids who are different but not special needs nor particularly gifted, and who find their own tribe? Oh yes. But that's what this is - hooks, ideas.

It feels like the editing was rushed, what with all sorts of threads that had neither beginning nor end, like Grace, and Hawaii. And the extra drama of the accident in the lab made no sense to me. The scientific curiosity of Maddie didn't even ring true. And what was show more that about polar bears in Antarctica? A very lame mistake, or an Easter Egg for the reader to spot and feel clever about spotting?

"Everyone in this whole world is weird!" laughs a new smart friend. show less

Young Madeline, a budding scientist, is grieving for her grandfather who died after battling Alzheimer's. Her best friend is going to a private middle school so she will start middle school without her. Her way of coping is writing SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) for everything she needs to do, some of which highly critical of others. Shades of Harriet the Spy, her SOP notebook is read by some of the people she was critical of.
A very self-centered Madeline has to come out of herself, show more and she does. The setting is middle school but for the most part it could be upper elementary school drama. This would make an excellent book discussion book. show less

THE FRIENDSHIP EXPERIMENT by Erin Teagan takes a clever approach to the issues of middle school friendships.

Madeline is a young scientist who takes a “step-by-step” approach to everything including finding a new best friend. When her peers read her notebook, she realizes that maybe a scientific approach can’t solve her friendship dilemma. Intermediate level readers will empathize with Madeline’s personal and school experiences.

Librarians will find this humorous work of realistic show more fiction to be popular among young scientists and youth who enjoy stories about friendship.

Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Book Group on November 1, 2016. ARC courtesy of the publisher. show less