Brendan Buckley's Sixth-Grade Experiment (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Brendan Buckley's Sixth-Grade Experiment Kate Quealy-Gainer Frazier, Sundee T. Brendan Buckley's Sixth-Grade Experiment. Delacorte, 2012. [288p]. Library ed. ISBN 978-0-375-98949-0 $19.99 Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-385-74050-0 $16.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-375-89930-0 $10.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 4-6. Sixth grade starts off pretty well for science geek Brendan Buckley when his favorite teacher announces that their class will participate in a national science competition. His lab partner is a cute girl who's interested in science, but she has a way of distracting him at the most inconvenient of times, and his friend Khal isn't too pleased that Brendan is suddenly spending all his time with a girl. At home, his strict cop father is disappointed that Brendan has been neglecting more athletic pursuits in favor of the competition; when Brendan overhears his dad referring to him an "egghead," he begins to wonder if winning a national prize is worth upsetting both his dad and his best friend. After tackling issues of racism and biracial identity in Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything In It, Frazier here takes on the somewhat more mundane fare of middle-school dramas involving changing bodies, values, and friends. Brendan is both nerdy and immensely likable, especially because he is mostly comfortable with said nerdiness and only wishes other people—especially [End Page 351] his dad—would expand their definition of cool to include science. The prickliness between Brendan and his father is handled with particular deftness, allowing Dad plenty of opportunities to not seem like a total jerk; although his ultimate realization that Brendan is in fact a great kid, geek or not, is predictable, it is nonetheless moving. Readers whose idea of fun includes parking themselves in front of the 500s will find a kindred soul in Brendan. Copyright © 2012 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois