The Everybody Experiment

by Lisa Moore Ramée

From the award-winning author of A Good Kind of Trouble, Lisa Moore Ramée, comes a hilarious and heartfelt young middle grade novel, in the vein of Judy Blume, about friendship, fitting in, and the ups and downs of middle school. Sure to resonate with fans of Rebecca Stead, Meg Medina, and Kelly Yang.

Eleven-year-old Kylie’s friends seem so much more mature than she is. And with middle school just a summer away, she’s worried her friends might leave her behind, especially because she keeps embarrassing them.

So Kylie applies her scientific brain to solve the problem and comes up with the Everybody Experiment:

Hypothesis: Kylie Stanton will be mature if she does what everybody else does.

Experiment: This summer, when all of Kylie’s friends do something, she will do it too.

Suddenly it’s a whole new grown-up world for Kylie, with parties, unsupervised excursions, and boys. But the more research Kylie puts into the Everybody Experiment, the more she begins to wonder how she can do what everybody else does . . . without letting go of herself.

Genres: Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Childrens, Fiction, Audiobook

272 pages, Hardcover

First published August 27, 2024

Reviews

[Trisha Jong B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being an elementary school library clerk has many perks and getting to enjoy an awesome middle grade novel is one of them! This was a newer title we added this year and it exceeded my expectations! Loved the friend group in the book and that the overall lesson we learn through the experiences of Kylie is such a solid one! Something more young girls could use as an encouraging example.

[Bailey Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Everybody Experiment is a witty, important, relatable, lesson-filled, fun, and heartfelt story! This book is a must read for all middle schoolers! It is recommended for ages 8-12, but would also be a wonderful read for reader just moving out of chapter books. Kylie is an incredibly relatable character. She is going through a transition period and unlike her friend's she isn't excited. While they can't wait to be middle schoolers, she wishes she could stay in elementary school. Fearing her feelings will cause her friends to move on and grown up without her, Kylie decides to do everything everyone else is doing. The everybody experiment is born and everyone is happy...... expect for Kylie finds herself loosing who she is. This lovely book is full of friendship, self-discovery, hard choices, comedic scenes, and uncertainty.

[Bozhena Levine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you Harper Audio, Blazer + Bray, & NetGalley for the advanced electronic audio review copy of this book. It is a middle grade book with an insight look at the typical middle school stress and drama. Kylie, the main character, feeling less “mature” than her friends, designs an experiment to study human behavior as a way to solve her problems. If her friends do something, so would she. What ensues is Kylie’s attempts at fitting in while being out of her comfort zone.

[YSBR · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eleven-year-old Kylie Stanton has had three best friends - Naomi, Nikila, and Mara - throughout elementary school.  They have grown up together jumping rope and playing on the monkey bars, but now it’s the summer before middle school, and Kylie senses that her friends don’t think she’s mature enough to hang out with anymore. After all, she still likes playing pretend with her little sister Brianna, often makes awkward or embarrassing comments, and she is pretty well-known at school for crying easily, while the other girls are wearing bras and talking about boys.  Kylie really wants to prove to her friends that she is ready to face 7th grade, but that means convincing her mother to let her go along with the group all summer.  So she constructs a science experiment based on the hypothesis that she “will be mature if she does what everybody else does.”  Kylie’s rules for the experiment include that if all three of her friends are doing something, Momma has to let her go too, and she is only allowed to cry three times all summer.  The girls go on shopping excursions, beach trips and amusement park outings, have sleepovers with scary movies and attend parties with schoolmates.  Kylie makes a few mistakes, is occasionally excluded, and often butts heads with Naomi about the right way to act.  As the summer goes on, Kylie starts to see that none of her friends are as mature and self-assured as they seem, and she also eventually realizes that a big part of being mature sometimes means not going along with the crowd.

This is a heartwarming and relatable coming of age story full of humor and believable scenarios.  The first person narration will draw readers in from the first chapter as the four friends enjoy their last-ever recess.  Kylie’s voice is full of her earnest desire to fit in while staying true to what she loves and enjoys, and most kids will connect with that.  Strong character development is a highlight of the book: Kylie’s worries revolve around more than just her social situation as she prepares to test for her advanced brown belt in karate class and helps her mother at home while her father travels a lot for business.  We gain insight into the background and home life of each of her friends as well; astute readers will key in early on that Naomi’s parents are splitting up, and Nikila’s parents are actually more strict than Kylie’s.  The narrative is sprinkled with jots from Kylie’s scientific notes - observations and results of her experiment - which offer up some thought-provoking questions and dilemmas for tweens about lying, keeping secrets from friends and/or parents, and doing the right thing. Link to complete review: https://ysbookreviews.wordpress.com/2...

[Miss Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kylie and her three best friends have just finished 6th grade and are excited to start 7th grade in the fall. However during their last recess it becomes clear to Kylie that her propensity to easily cry tears when feeling any big emotion is a trait that her friends find immature and is something that has obviously been discussed by them when she wasn’t around. Afraid that her friends are growing up and becoming more mature than her makes her fear that she will lose her closest friends next year. While Kylie is a sensitive soul, she is also a scientific one. With her mother’s blessing Kylie devises an experiment; if she does everything her friends do this summer she will be more mature and stop crying so often. What ensues is a summer filled with adventures, tough choices, and even tougher conversations. This realistic story is told with a lot of warmth and humor. The mother’s decision to let Kylie do the experiment makes sense considering all of the other girls are good kids who truly do care for and like Kylie. The only unbelievable part is when Kylie’s mother says she can shave her legs for the first time since all of her friends already do and then sends her to shave for the first time with zero supervision. While Kylie’s friend Naomi comes off as a bit mean spirited and starts making some bad choices it is made clear that this is a result of her having a hard time coping with the pending separation of her parents. Highly recommended for any library serving children in grades 4th through 8th.

[SOYAMRG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kylie and her three best friends have just finished 6th grade and are excited to start 7th grade in the fall. However during their last recess it becomes clear to Kylie that her propensity to easily cry tears when feeling any big emotion is a trait that her friends find immature and is something that has obviously been discussed by them when she wasn’t around. Afraid that her friends are growing up and becoming more mature than her makes her fear that she will lose her closest friends next year. While Kylie is a sensitive soul, she is also a scientific one. With her mother’s blessing Kylie devises an experiment; if she does everything her friends do this summer she will be more mature and stop crying so often. What ensues is a summer filled with adventures, tough choices, and even tougher conversations.

This realistic story is told with a lot of warmth and humor. The mother’s decision to let Kylie do the experiment makes sense considering all of the other girls are good kids who truly do care for and like Kylie. The only unbelievable part is when Kylie’s mother says she can shave her legs for the first time since all of her friends already do and then sends her to shave for the first time with zero supervision. While Kylie’s friend Naomi comes off as a bit mean spirited and starts making some bad choices it is made clear that this is a result of her having a hard time coping with the pending separation of her parents.

Highly recommended for any library serving children in grades 4th through 8th.

M.S.
Children's Librarian

[Suzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! Kylie is just trying to figure out how to be mature, and not cry all the time, before starting middle school.
I am so like Kylie, I cry at little things too, I get it. I liked that she took time to look at her emotions and analyze them. I like that she was using a science experiment to see what happens if she does what everybody else does during the summer. But I liked that she learned through this experiment that it's good also to just be yourself. Going along with everybody else isn't always the best decision.
I liked that she is in Karate and really likes it and feels that it is a part of her.
The friendships were really great. I could feel the tension between these characters, but that made the resolutions more meaningful. You could tell how much they care about each other. But you also got to see that they all have their own issues to deal with and sometimes feel like they can't talk to their friends about it.
The families in this book were all different, and it was a good representation of different families out there.
I adored Kylie's sister Brianna and the bond they share and how Kylie made time for her.

This book is such a great book for kids going into middle school to see that they aren't alone and that other kids out there go through these questions and times too.

I can't wait to get this book into people's hands at the library.

[Gretchen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah, those teen/tween years when we all worry about being different from our friends. How different is too different and how do we balance what we really like and who we are with what seems to be expected of us and what we are supposed to like. I really like how Kylie approaches this common problem with her experimental design. She is honest with her observations, even though she doesn't always want to be, which shows us how she struggles to both be a good scientist and a good friend. Her idea of just following along and doing everything her friends want is certainly something that kids do all the time without being so aware of it so that makes this experiment that much more interesting. I appreciated that her mother, despite the fact that she knows that succumbing to peer pressure is never a good idea, allows Kaylie to learn these lessons for herself by allowing the experiment to continue. I appreciated that Kaylie not only learned more about herself through this experience but she learned more about others as well and how behavior is indicative of what's happening inside a person but that isn't always what we expect. I really loved another Ramee book, A Good Kind of Trouble, and after reading this one, I know I will be reading more of her books because they remind me of all those issues tweens/teens face and how staying true to themselves is so difficult but possible.

[Ms. Yingling · Rating 4 out of 5]

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

At the end of 6th grade, all of Kylie's friends are excited to make the transition from elementary school to middle school, but she's not thrilled. She worries that she isn't as "mature" as her friends, especially since she has a reputation of being quick to cry. She's even done a science project on the physiological reason for tears, and that causes some of her classmates to make even more fun of her. She's also worried about her father's traveling for his new job, and devastated that he can't be at her promotion. Her mother is studying for her PhD, and her younger sister Brianna requires a lot of time, but the two get along well. Approaching the problem of a new school year scientifically, Kylie hypothesizes that if she tries all of the activities that her friends do over the summer, she will be as "mature" as they are. Her mother reluctantly agrees to this plan, as long as there is a disclaimer that Kylie won't do anything dangerous or harmful. Even though she is out of her comfort zone, Kylie manages to go to a restaurant with her friends, go shopping at the mall, attend a boy-girl party and navigate how to say no to ziplining when she is wearing a skirt. Her friends are fearless in their pursuits and also want to watch scary movies and shave their legs, neither of which are successful endeavors, although Kylie does enjoy it when everyone dances. There is some friend drama when Kylie sees Cory and Naomi kissing, and Naomi denies it. This, combined with other situations, has Kylie thinking philosophically about the whole process of lying. There's a trip to a theme park that is rife with problems, as well as drama with birthday parties, Kylie's karate classes, and of course, Brianna deciding to copy her sister and shave her arm! Will Kylie be able to feel comfortable with her classmates and their level of maturity as she starts seventh grade?
Strengths: Middle grade books are full of trauma and drama, but adults think that this needs to consist of death and other terrible things. For tweens, it's your friends talking about you behind your back, crying in awkward situations, failing a test, or just trying to figure out life. Seeing others work through problems like these is just as valuable as seeing young people dealing with grief, which is not quite as universal. Kylie takes a measured and scientific approach to her problem, loops in her parents, and tries to keep a brave face in front of her friends. Ramée does a great job of capturing little, but critical moments; haven't we all worn just the wrong thing, like Kylie and her lack of bike shorts when she wants to zip line? (I wore shorts to freshman schedule pick up when everyone else wore jeans; thinking about it still makes me cringe.) I wouldn't mind a follow up volume about Kylie, focusing on how well she balances her schoolwork, karate, and babysitting Briann during her 7th grade year. If we could avoid school elections and newspapers, all the better!
Weaknesses: Brian Crane's Pickles just has a strip that proclaimed "Old folks know more about being young than young people know about being old". In middle school, I was often anxious and prone to tears, but my mother was NOT having that. As a member of Gen X, with Boomer leanings, it's very, very true that people my age want everyone to just "suck it up" or "slap some dirt on it" and move on. This is how we were raised. Today's young people will sympathize with Kylie's tendency toward tears, but I was just a little irritated with her at first. It was good to see that she was resilient and kept going; I'd love to see more of these positive role models for tweens.
What I really think: Despite, or perhaps because of, my personal feelings, I know this is a book we need in elementary and middle school libraries. If the only middle grade novels published next year involved tweens dealing with school and family problems, with a little sports thrown in, 85% of my students would be perfectly happy, and the remaining 15% would have plenty of fantasy books to read. Readers who enjoyed delle Donne's Hoops: Belle of the Ball series, Hurwitz' How I Saved the World in 65 Days, and Lakritz's Things That Shimmer will enjoy this insightful look at the ordinary stress of middle school.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kylie and her friends are about to move up to 7th grade, which in their system is considered middle school. Kylie is emotional/sensitive and cries pretty easily. Her friends all know this about her but Kylie is determined to do something to outgrow this "baby-ish" trait over the summer before they move up. Kylie is a scientist so she devises a hypothesis and an experiment to help her. She will copy her friends and do whatever they do, since they don't cry like she does. Her parents sign off on the experiment and she begins doing what everyone else is doing: shaving her legs, going to parties, etc. However, Kylie has to come to terms with some things as she is forced to go along with the herd mentality instead of following her own path.

This is a pretty good insight into peer pressure, being true to yourself, and what real friendship looks like. All very authentic middle school stuff. There are some added plots around family dynamics that give additional strength to the story. Not as intense as some of Moore Ramée's other themes/books but just as well written.

[Shanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Everybody Experiment is a sweet and needed book about what it means to be someone who is highly sensitive. Also, it’s sort of a Judy Blume meets the 21st century “Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret.” High praise, but I see a lot of similarities.

Kylie Stanton is not ready for seventh grade. But her friends all seem like they are. Kylie worries that her friends are all more mature than her and that she cries too much. She devises an experiment where she will try to do everything her friends do (within reason) and try not to cry when things get too hard. All she wants is for her friends to all be together and happy. Will she succeed or will her experiment be a flop? This is a book about being yourself, believing in yourself and finding who you really are.

[Lisa Ramée · Rating 5 out of 5]

Look, if you're not going to go ahead and give your own books five star reviews then are you really an author? In all seriousness, I am so hoping readers will connect with this book about accepting yourself with all your shortcomings (and your strengths) and the stress of growing up and facing all sorts of changes. One of the worst insults you could hurl at someone when I was growing up was to call them a crybaby. And poor Kylie just can't help the waterworks that start up way too often. I loved writing this story about a girl who might be "sensitive" but is also smart and mature in all sorts of ways. Hope if you happen to read it you love it too!

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kylie is struggling as the youngest member of her friend group. They are all moving to seventh grade and she worries she is not as mature as the other three. She decides to conduct a scientific experiment to do what everybody else in the group does to achieve maturity. Readers go along on this series of adventures and see how each friend behaves. We see humor, pain and sadness as expected when middle school girls try to figure out life. I appreciated the ending when Kylie realizes they are all facing the similar fears and worries; she realizes she is mature in some ways and just fine in others.

[Angie Gascho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lisa Moore Ramée’s newest middle-grade novel, The Everybody Experiment, is a great read for young readers who wrestle with their emotions. The story chronicles young Kylie Stanton’s struggle to manage her feelings as she finishes elementary school and prepares to transition into seventh grade. Kylie feels she is not grown up like her friends, mostly because she cries so easily. In a quest to prove her maturity to herself and her friends, she uses her scientific savvy and conducts “The Everybody Experiment.” The novel captures so many of the worries of young readers this age with candor and humor.

[Afoma (Reading Middle Grade) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Everybody Experiment is a warm, relatable story about finding your path and growing at your own pace. With a sincere protagonist who’s navigating tough issues at home and with her friend group, including crushes, parental divorce, a parent working away from home, and peer pressure, this book is sure to resonate with its audience. Short chapters and an engaging storyline make this one fly by quickly for readers.

The Everybody Experiment is the October Reading Middle Grade INTERMEDIATE Book Club Pick. Read with us.

[LS Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this one, especially since the character was all about the "scientific method". But it fell far short. Kylie came across as very immature, whiny, and sneaky. For wanting to me mature, none of her actions or words reflected that, including always trying to find a way to pressure her mom into allowing her to do things that she knew wouldn't be good decisions. This one was a disappointment.

[Jennybeast · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the premise of this book -- it's very tween appropriate empowerment and all about testing the boundaries of new independence. I loved that Kylie takes her own experiment seriously and learned a bunch through her own reflections. The characters also all seem to be going through realistic modern life -- siblings, parents traveling, parents working or studying and not having as much time, divorce, etc.

[Judy Rath · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute middle grade book that I think will be easy for kids to relate to. Main character is facing a lot of big emotions as she makes a transition to middle school. Very much a friendship story, and finding out who you are story - reads a little young for characters going into seventh grade. But will appeal to girls who are in the same boat, and may be a little more innocent. Recommend for ages 8 to 11.

[TheNextGenLibrarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an adorable MG book! Kylie’s friends seem much more mature than her and as they head to MS, she’s feeling behind. Using her scientific brain she comes up with the Everybody Experiment to study human behavior. If her friends do it, she will too. Suddenly she’s in a grown up world where she longs to return to her old life. Out 8/27.

4.25 ⭐️

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a gem! A great story about Kylie, who wants to stop crying because she and her friends have graduated from elementary school. She decides to conduct a science experiment to follow along with what "everybody" is doing -- even if it means not being true to herself. A perfect middle grade read about friends, bras, and fitting in.

[Terrie Brodie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful story about friendships and the desire to fit in. I especially loved that as the main character approaches middle school, she grows to understand that the behavior of her friends is not related to how they feel about her. The character development is great, and the book reminded me of experiences with my own friend group in middle school. I highly recommend.

[Jessica Homrich · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute story about friendship, self-awareness, and being okay with who you are in the transition into middle school. I think the author did a great job putting into words what emotions can feel like in your body, and showing how friendships can be the things help you in the toughest of times if only you let them.

[Clarissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some good middle school friendship dynamics in this book. Fears of not being as mature as ones friends, being slightly younger and having protective parents, and will that result in the heroine being left behind.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I definitely needed a book like this when I was a kid, because I cried all the time and felt like I had to force myself to stop it or I'd never make it in life. And of course, as soon as you command yourself to stop crying, you just cry harder....

[Tamara Ramirez · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an awesome book!!!! It's like a coming of age story for teen girls. Kylie just wants to be mature, she has big "feelings" and just trying to be cool like her friends but finds that she may be more mature than she gives herself credit for.

[Rae the Reviewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a well told story of friendship, growing up, and figuring out what it actually means to be mature. It’s done in such an age appropriate manner where it truly is perfect for that upper elementary, lower middle school age range. This is definitely one I’ll be recommending to tweens.

[Anna Moberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book about how friendships change as kids get older and in middle school

[Jessica Lerbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute and sweet with good lessons for children-becoming-teenagers

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Nobody is just one thing or exactly who you think they are.”

A fantastic middle grade story with themes of science, maturity, growing up, friendship, trust, and forgiveness.

[Stella · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing book. It can teach people that just being yourself is okay. You don’t have to be like everyone else and your aloud to cry. You don’t have to feel bad about crying.