Richie’s Picks: THE EXPERIMENT
Richie Partington
Richie’s Picks: THE EXPERIMENT by Rebecca Stead, Macmillan/Feiwel and Friends, October 2025, 272p., ISBN: 978-1-250-37476-9
“Have you seen our saucers?
See our lights in your western skies, California?
The rainbow skies
The government tells you another missile is flying
Have you any idea why they’re lying to you?
To your faces
Did they tell you?
Have you seen our saucers?’
– Paul Kantner (1973)
“‘We’re ready to bring Nathan,’ someone said. ‘Where is he?’
‘Can I get you something first?’ Nathan heard his mother ask. ‘We have Girl Scout cookies. It’s good to see you.’
She was offering them cookies! Still trying to be a perfect human, Nathan thought. He shook his head. You couldn’t fail worse than growing a tail, and cookies weren’t going to fix anything.
Also: His mom seemed to know the DPs. Maybe this was good news.
The people in the shoes turned out to be very interested in Girl Scout cookies. And apparently they were all going to sit down to eat them like a meal. The feet shuffled around the table, and then everyone sat down. Toto placed himself under Nathan’s mother’s chair.
‘This is nice,’ Nathan heard her say, her voice a funny cross between cheerful and robotic. Or was it a cross between cheerful and terrified? ‘How have you been?’
‘How do you think we’ve been?’ was the answer. ‘Use your imagination, Rachel.’
Then no one said anything for a few seconds.
‘We’ll need his logbook, of course,’ the voice said, alongside chewing. It sounded like the cookies were going fast.
His logbook? Nathan snorted quietly, It was his mom’s book. She was never more than nine inches away from it.
‘Of course,’ Nathan heard his mother say. ‘I’ll bring it with me.’
‘You won’t be coming with us,’ the voice said quickly. ‘Just the boy.’
‘Excuse me?’ Nathan’s father said. ‘He’s not the boy. He’s our boy,’
There was a long pause. Then the voice again: ‘Just. The. ‘Boy. Those are her instructions, Daniel. In her words. Do you think I like this?’
A chair was pushed back from the table and one pair of shoes took two steps closer to where Nathan lay, barely breathing, on his floor.
Up close, the shoes were pretty sad-looking: splotchy brown, with worn-out soles that curbed up at the tips. There were small holes next to the pinkie toes.
‘So where is he?’ Sad Shoes said. ‘Where’s Nathan?’
Nathan glanced toward Victor, who had receded to a deeper place under the bed. No more half-face or glint of glasses.
‘Let me be crystal clear,’ Nathan heard his mother say. ‘Nathan is not leaving here without the two of us. I’m calling the Wagon right now to get this straightened out.’
She stood up. Beneath her chair, Toto did the same.
‘There’s another box of cookies above the fridge,’ she announced. Then she walked away, Toto following. They heard her bedroom door close.
Nathan’s dad said, ‘Gentlemen. Let’s take this one step at a time, shall we? More cookies?’
Surprisingly, Sad Shoes didn’t argue. The shoes shuffled back to the table.
And then, for the first time, Nathan heard the other D.P. speak.
‘Do you have any eggs?’ said the new voice. ‘I miss eggs.’
‘Eggs are my specialty!’ Nathan’s dad said, obviously trying to sound extra friendly.
But Egg-lover didn’t sound any friendlier than Sad Shoes did.”
Sixth grader Nathan and his parents look like average humans living in New York City. But they are not. Disguised as humans, they are part of an explorer group from the distant planet Kast. Their homies are counting on the explorers to not stick out, and to gather data about human body maintenance as they evaluate the potential for living life on Earth. Just in case…
“Maintaining perfect human form meant everything to Hester, and she required all the information it was possible to gather. Calories consumed, calories burned, time asleep, skin condition, vision checks, temperature checks, and more.”
But now Nathan–a boy born here on Earth to these alien parents–has unexpectedly begun to grow an orange tail. This is part of what he eventually reveals to his human friend Victor. Victor has always loved playing Calvin to Nathan’s pretend Hobbs.
Thanks to the unexpected arrival of the D.P.s at Nathan’s house, Victor is now hiding under Nathan’s bed. He is also hearing what is going on between the alien adults outside Nathan’s closed bedroom door.
There are great domestic/sibling rivalry scenes in the story when Nathan is hanging out with Victor’s normal, messy, perfect (human) family. This undoubtedly plays a serious role in how Nathan is authentically humanizing (and comforting) himself.
He needs a lot of comfort these days because, In recent months, some of the other Kast kids have been brought back to their spaceship (which is disguised as a storage unit in a Pittsburgh mall parking lot), and it’s the last Nathan has heard a word from or about those fellow alien kids.
Now the D.P.s have arrived at Nathan’s house, their task being to bring this alien boy back to the storage unit/spaceship for who-knows-what-purpose.
THE EXPERIMENT is a tense, breathless and, at the same time, very fun and goofy read. I love how the story unwinds and repeatedly surprises. Full of twists and turns and a lot of heart, it’s speculative sci-fi that’ll leave you wondering and imagining. It’s also a captivating and satisfying coming of age story, as well as a trip of a tale about a tail.
Once again, Rebecca Stead has wowed me. It’s certainly an automatic purchase for collections serving upper elementary or middle schoolers.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com