The Friendship Experiment by Erin Teagan

Book Review: The Friendship Experiment by Erin Teagan

Image Courtesy of Goodreads

Goodreads Synopsis: 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 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?

My Review: Overall, the Friendship Experiment was actually quite nice. I sympathized with Madeline over her unfortunate loss of her grandfather, and at the big blowup of problems at the end. Her SOP usage seemed a bit odd at first, but I got used to them. Also, Riley and Elizabeth's true identities were revealed. Another key subject of the book was the Von Willebrand disease, which leads to less clotting of the blood. Madeline's sister got a lot of bloody noses. What I liked about that was that Brooke (Madeline's sister) always held her head up high and wasn't really ashamed of the disease, like some might be. In addition, Brooke and Madeline's relationship seemed very real, unlike some books where the older sister is bratty and just mean to younger sibling. It was a pretty well done construction, overall.
There were also some problems with the story. Madeline assumes she is a genius, but she's really just interested in science. I mean, she grows bacteria, but that doesn't make her better than everyone else! At least the author developed her character based on that, though, and her conceitedness wore off. I also didn't really understand how she became friends with her lunch group at all. How did she even get to know them well enough to become friends? Also, I thought there would be more science involved, and even though it was mentioned a lot, there was nothing really overly science-y about the book. The same things like the bacteria, SOPs, and Einstein poster were mentioned over and over again. Standard Operating Procedures don't just mean science. They're just a series of steps. 
Overall, the book deserves 3.5 stars. It was pretty fun to read, but it just had some problems.

P.S. Can I just mention how awesome the cover is?