Rebecca Stead, author of "The Experiment," and agent Faye Bender discuss the ins and outs of getting published
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Club Calvi got an inside look into getting a book published, with a bestselling author of books for young people and her longtime agent.
Rebecca Stead has written nine books, including the award-winning "When You Reach Me." Her new book "The Experiment" is out now. Agent Faye Bender of The Book Group has been with Stead from the beginning.
Stead and Bender's 20 year relationship
Stead was introduced to Bender by a fellow writer in a critique group.
"One of the members was working with Faye and she said, when my book was deemed ready for submission, she wanted to introduce me to Faye. And that was an incredible stroke of luck," Stead said.
Stead's second book, "When You Reach Me," was awarded the Newbery Medal for the most distinguished contribution to American Literature for children in 2010.
"It was her first New York Times best seller, the first of many," Bender said. "I think that what happened with that book, which is what happens now with all of Rebecca's books, is that the kids and the adults who read them have this incredible urge when they read the last page to go back to the first and start all over again."
Stead said that Bender is a huge part of her working life.
"I've had a couple of different publishers, but Faye and I are the constant," Stead said.
Stead and Bender are marking 20 years working together.
"I think the relationship changes because the writing changes," Stead said. "With this book ["The Experiment"], there's a lot of action in this story. So I said to her, every time something big happens, can I email it to you. So I was annoyingly sending her tiny pieces of book for months and months. She would read it overnight and she would say, I'm so excited. Keep going. Which is, of course, what you need."
"The Experiment" is a coming of age story with a twist
"The Experiment" takes the idea of an alien on earth and gives it a twist.
"Nathan is a sixth grader and he has known his whole life that he is part of this noble, scientific alien experiment on earth," Stead explained. "He and his family are determined to do their very best. His one job is to look and act exactly like a human. And then that goes completely sideways because he starts growing a tail."
Nathan and his family get called back to the mothership where he makes some troubling discoveries.
Bender says all of Stead's books ask big questions.
"In this one, a coming of age novel with aliens, she explores how we figure out who we are in the world, and how we want to be in the world, or galaxy," Bender said.
Rebecca Stead's and Faye Bender's tips for aspiring authors
Mary asked Stead and Bender about tips for aspiring authors.
Bender said writers should read widely outside of any particular genre, create a literary community, and talk to booksellers about what's working and what people are asking for.
"And remember those moments as readers when there's nothing you want to do but sit on the couch, or in bed with a flashlight, reading whatever it is you're reading. Try to remember what that feels like, and write to that feeling," Bender said.
Stead emphasized aspiring writers should find a literary community.
"Sometimes that means being brave," Stead said. "Some writers are a little bit introverted. Sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone, and really stretch."
You can read and excerpt and get "The Experiment" below.
The CBS New York Book Club focuses on books connected to the Tri-State Area in their plots and/or authors. The books may contain adult themes.
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"The Experiment" by Rebecca Stead
From the publisher:
Nathan wants to help his people, but first he has to figure out who they are...
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 sixth-grader (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.
Rebecca Stead lives in New York City
"The Experiment" by Rebecca Stead (ThriftBooks) $15
Excerpt: "The Experiment" by Rebecca Stead
Chapter 1
NATHAN
Nathan had spent the morning re-reading comics in bed before sliding into a long nap that ended when his dad tapped twice on the door and called out, "Are you conscious?"
It was how his dad always woke Nathan on school days (regular ones, when their world wasn't ending): two taps and "Are you conscious?"
Nathan usually answered, "I am now!"
Today he said, "Unfortunately."
He heard the key turn in the lock, and then his dad was smiling awkwardly in the doorway while balancing a tray in one hand.
"I brought lunch." He grinned at the books that still surrounded Nathan on the bed. "Bingeing some comics, huh? Life always seems a little brighter with Calvin and Hobbes."
Nathan wasn't a big reader, but his dad was right: Calvin and Hobbes was his safe space. His happy place. Not that he was feeling very happy—or safe—at the moment.
Sitting up, Nathan rubbed one eye. "It's lunchtime already? When are they getting here? I could have gone to school." Victor was probably freaking out at school. Nathan was never absent.
Never.
"Sorry, kiddo." His dad put down the lunch tray on Nathan's desk, exactly where Nathan's computer should have been sitting.
"Hang tight. I'm sure it won't be much longer."
Nathan's best friend, Victor, loved Calvin and Hobbes, too. Sometimes they read the comic strips together out loud, each of them taking a character. Victor was always Calvin (the mischievous boy), and Nathan was always Hobbes (the thoughtful tiger).
Which made sense. Victor said Nathan was a lot like Hobbes because he was thoughtful and easygoing ("immune to annoying people," he said). And Victor was like Calvin because he was hyper and adventurous.
When Nathan said he was adventurous, too, Victor just smiled at him.
Nathan was pretty much dying to text Victor, but his parents had also taken his phone. He ate the lunch his dad brought him, even though he thought about not eating it. He could have pushed it away and said, "Zero calories! Tell her to write that down in the big book of everything."
But he didn't. He ate the whole thing: cheese and lettuce sandwich with pickles, a cup of blueberries (carefully weighed, he was sure, even today), a small bag of pretzels that he recognized from the plane (two ounces, conveniently labeled), and two Girl Scout cookies (oatmeal, which was all they had left). Plus two glasses of water, sitting side by side.
"Good job, mate," his dad said when he came back for the dishes. They both knew it was easier for Nathan's mom if he ate everything, because otherwise she'd have to weigh his leftovers and do the math. "Calorie intake" was one of the blanks on her daily report.
Nathan said he had to pee. "You still have to let me go to the bathroom, right?"
His dad looked shocked. "Of course. This is not your fault, kiddo. No one is mad at you." He let Nathan's door swing all the way open. "Your mom and I are . . ."
Sad? Disappointed? Freaked out? Hanging tight?
"Just following orders," Nathan said. "I know. Mom already told me."
In the bathroom, Nathan stared hard at himself. The Florida sun had brought out his freckles in the five days they'd been away for their (first-ever) family vacation. But nothing else seemed different. He didn't look like a failure.
In the mirror over the sink, anyway.
When Nathan was done, his dad locked him back in his room. "Remember," he called through the door, "we're a team!"
Nathan had been raised to believe that. He wanted to believe it. Lying across the bed (on his stomach), he watched a sliver of sunlight crawl a few inches across the floor and wished he were at school.
Chapter 2
NO SCHOOL TODAY
Nathan's backpack, stuffed with his notebooks plus one smelly chunk of French cheese, was still on his desk chair, where he had set it down early that morning to pull on a sweatshirt before school. That was when the phone in his parents' bedroom rang. His mom had come into Nathan's room thirty seconds later, looking pale but trying to smile.
"No school today, honey. We're all going to the Wagon."
"The Wagon?" Nathan had felt like his heart might actually stop.
"Hester wants to see you, sweetheart."
"Hester called? Wait. Do we have to?"
She blinked. "She's the boss, sweetie."
"Can't I just go to a doctor or something? Here? In New York?"
She glanced around the room, and Nathan followed her gaze to the papier-mâché mask hanging on the wall above his desk. He'd made it in third grade, when he and Victor both had Mr. Edmund, the best art teacher at school. Mr. Edmund always let them hang out in the art room during lunch.
Nathan's heart had changed its mind: Instead of stopping, it was going double-time. "Mom?"
Now she was staring out the window, where Nathan saw pigeons flying in a big circle over the water tower across the street. Around and around.
"Someone's coming to pick us up," she said. And then she left, closing the door behind her.
That was when he heard the key turn in his door.
"You locked me in?" he yelled.
She answered through the door, "Just a precaution, sweetie. Hester's orders. I love you. Try not to worry."
From "The Experiment " by Rebecca Stead. Copyright © 2025 by Rebecca Stead. Reprinted courtesy of Feiwel & Friends, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers.
