The Experiment by Rebecca Stead

In The Experiment, a 12-year-old boy struggles to discover his destiny as an alien on earth.

The Experiment by Rebecca Stead.  Feiwel and Friends, 2025. 270 pages.

• Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 10-12
• Recommended for: ages 10-15

Nathan walks, talks, and looks like the average 6th-grader. He has a best friend named Victor at school. He has loving parents and a cat. And he’s an alien. He and his parents call themselves Kast, from the planet by the same name, though Nathan was born on earth. They are here to conduct experiments supervised by Hester, a superintelligent being who has assigned Nathan and other 12-year-olds to various geographical locations. There’s Miriam from Missouri and Leo from Louisiana, but especially Isobel from Illinois. The kids get together for occasional conference calls and are not supposed to communicate otherwise, but for a while Izzy and Nathan were texting every night on contraband flip phones.

But then Izzy disappears. And Nathan begins growing a tail.

That’s the reason he’s been summoned by Hester herself who resides in a camouflaged spaceship called the Wagon. All the Kast children were expected to express some sort of special alien marker, but so far Nathan is the only one who has. So he must be special . . . but why? And what’s expected of him now? And why are Izzy and some of the other kids now performing menial, illogical tasks aboard the Wagon?

Nathan may be sinking in circumstances he can’t control, but he still has choices about how he responds. Along the way, a wise grandma gives him some advice about acting out the anger and vindictiveness that sometimes grips him: “You can’t choose the way you feel. I made other choices. Joined the chorus. Learned to swim. Found some friends. You know what everybody wants? Love.” Hester, for one, has made terrible choices, but responding in love helps Nathan look beyond what he’s been told and find some unexpected answers. Flanked by Victor as a loyal, courageous ally and Izzy as an imaginative inspiration, he stumbles toward a conclusion that’s as satisfying as it is surprising.

Considerations: none

Bottom Line: A twisty plot and well-drawn characters make this an entertaining but also thought-provoking novel.

Related Reading at Redeemed Reader:

• Reviews: Other novels we’ve reviewed by Rebecca Stead include Liar & Spy and Goodbye Stranger. Stead co-wrote a couple of novels, too (with Wendy Mass): Bob and The Lost Library.
• Reviews: Other science-fiction novels for middle-graders include Brand New Kid, The Lion of Mars, and We’re Not From Here (starred review).
• Resource: Got a voracious tween reader? Check out our Series Fiction for Tweens Booklist.

You may buy The Experiment from Amazon.