By Rebecca Stead (author)
"A warm, carefully crafted sci-fi mystery that blends everyday childhood experiences with a sense of the extraordinary."
Paperback In Stock £7.99 £7.19
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Rebecca Stead’s The Experiment is a warm, carefully crafted sci-fi mystery that blends everyday childhood experiences with a sense of the extraordinary. The story follows Nathan, a seemingly ordinary boy who shares a small New York flat with his parents and his cat, and spends his free time reading Calvin and Hobbes or watching movies with his best friend, Victor.
Yet beneath this familiar surface lies a truth he has been raised to protect: Nathan and his family aren’t from here. They aren’t even from this planet.
Stead grounds the science fiction in the emotional reality of her characters. Nathan’s life is shaped by rigid household routines and rituals he doesn’t fully understand, and by the secrecy that separates him from the world he wants to belong to. The tension between fitting in and staying hidden provides a rich backdrop for a story that becomes increasingly twisty as Nathan begins experiencing strange physical changes.
These alarming symptoms trigger a summons to the family’s mothership, the Wagon, where long-buried truths unravel and Nathan meets Hester, the apparently all-powerful leader.
What follows is a tightly paced sequence of discoveries, mistakes, and daring escapes, all delivered in Stead’s readable, understated style. While young readers will delight in the alien lore, sci-fi nods, and gentle superhero echoes, the novel’s heart lies in its exploration of identity, friendship, and trust.
Nathan’s bond with Victor and with Victor’s warm, inviting family, anchors the story in the universal desire to find your place in the world. Ultimately, as Victor’s grandmother wisely observes, “Everybody wants love.” Stead’s latest novel affirms that message, offering an adventure that is exciting and grounded in humanity - except for the cats and aliens.
From the Newbery Medal winner comes a fast-paced coming-of-age novel - with aliens - that asks universal questions about how we figure out who we want to be, and whether it’s ever too late to change.
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Nathan never understood what was 'fun' about secrets, probably because he's always had to keep a very big one.
Although he appears to be a typical twelve-year-old (with parents, homework and a best friend, Victor), Nathan learned at an early age that his family is from another planet. Now, their time on Earth may be coming to an end. Nathan, his parents and nine other families are part of an experiment that suddenly seems to be going wrong.
Some of the experimenters, including Nathan's first crush, Izzy, are disappearing without a word. After his family is called back to the mothership, Nathan begins to question everything he's been taught to believe about who he is and why he's on Earth.
Cover illustrated by Devin Elle Kurtz
'[A] twisty, thoughtful tale' - Publishers Weekly
'Compulsively readable' - Booklist
Rebecca Stead grew up in New York City where she lives today with her husband and two sons. Rebecca used to be a lawyer and wrote books for adults before turning to younger fiction. Her second book for children, When You Reach Me , won the Newbery Medal 2010, and her follow-up, Liar and Spy , was the winner of the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. She now combines her writing with work as a literary agent.
On her website she credits her son with inspiring her to write a children's novel, but not in the way one would expect. For years she had collected story ideas and short stories on a laptop, which the child pushed off a table, destroying it and losing all her 'serious' writing. As a way to lighten her mood she began again with something light-hearted. The creation of First Light followed.
UKLA Book Awards 2027 Longlist: All 80 Children's Books Revealed
the best books for 9-12 year olds
The Ghosts of Grey Towers
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The House with Chicken Legs
From the Newbery Medal winner comes a fast-paced coming-of-age novel - with aliens - that asks universal questions about how we figure out who we want to be, and whether it’s ever too late to change. Nathan never understood what was 'fun' about secrets, probably because he's always had to keep a very big one.
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed The Experiment and determined it is suitable for children aged 9-12 years old
The Experiment features in the following genres: Featured Books for 9+ readers, Featured Books for 11+ readers, Books of the Month, Recommendations, Adventure Stories, Crime & Mystery, Stories about Family and Friends, Science Fiction, Mystery / Mythology, Children’s / Teenage general interest: UFOs and extraterrestrial beings, Children's and Young Adult Fiction, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, Children’s / Teenage: General interest
Paperback, Book. £7.19, down from the £7.99 cover price. In Stock.
The Experiment was written by Rebecca Stead and published by Andersen Press
The Experiment has 270 pages
£7.19, reduced from £7.99. In Stock.
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