Erin Teagan

Recommended Ages: Gr. 4-6 (no pictures, fairly small text)

Plot Summary: Luciana is THRILLED her dream of attending space camp is finally coming true. She entered the essay contest to win a scholarship for 2 (or 3?) years and finally won! When her parents drop her off, she's a little worried about being so far away from home for 6 days, and she's also wondering what will happen with the baby they're trying to adopt from Chile. Will her big dream of becoming a big sister finally come true? How will Luciana do in the robot competition?

Setting: space camp, parents live 3 states away, trying to adopt a baby from Chile (grandparents still live there)

Characters:

Recurring Themes: robots, STEM, STEAM, space camp, friendship, adoption, becoming an older sibling, cheating, morals, ethics, teamwork

Controversial Issues: none that I'm aware of

Personal Thoughts: I will admit I skimmed this one very quickly in order to write a letter to a student about it. However, I think I got a bunch of main ideas. It seems very heavy on science terminology--I'm not sure how well the science terms were first introduced. At some point I should go back and reread for the ethical problem. It may be a good class discussion. It seems like Luciana's team somehow cheated at the robotics competition and were eliminated. I liked how the ending still managed to be happy while still facing the consequences, even if they were unrealistic.

Genre: realistic fiction, STEM

Pacing: medium (science terminology)
Characters:
Frame:
Storyline:

Activity:… (más)

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 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.… (más)

Maddie is an aspiring scientist. Her life feels like it is unraveling as she begins sixth grade. Her best friend is going to a different school. She has to find a new friend group at the new middle school. Her beloved grandpa has just died. Maddie gets by through creating SOPs - standard operating procedures. They helped her grandpa as he navigated through dementia. They help her a little, but when her secret research notebook gets no so secret, Maddie has a lot of explaining and apologizing to do.
Von Willebrand disease, a bleeding disorder, runs in Maddie's family. And it was her grandfather's and now her father's life work to find a treatment or cure.
The many conflicts are resolved in the end and Maddie grows and matures as a result of the struggle.… (más)