The Girl and the Robot

Gr 3-7–Mimi Perez, 12, loves to fix things. Before Papi was deported to the Dominican Republic, he ran a repair shop in their local Brooklyn neighborhood, and Mimi learned to fix gadgets by working with him. But, since her father’s deportation, Mimi has dumped her friends and concentrated on earning money to hire a lawyer to get him back. When her three ex-friends—Jada, Benny, and Los—convince her to enter a robotics competition with them, she thinks the grand prize of $50,000 could be the ticket to her dad’s return. Then, a mysterious robot crashes to earth and lands in Papi’s old store. Mimi rescues the robot from the federal agents after it, fixes it, and makes a new friend—Dot-E. With federal agents searching for Dot-E and the robot needing to find its family to get home, Mimi learns she too needs the help of her friends and community, not only to win the robotics competition but to also save the robot and get her new friend to safety. The focus on immigration, refugees, and asylum seekers makes this book an important and relevant one. The well-developed characters, human and robot alike, will draw in tween readers and keep them invested in this heartwarming, STEM-infused story.