The Girl and the Robot

January 1, 2025
Grades 3-5 Mimi Perez wants nothing more than to get her dad back. One day, a white van pulled up outside their family's electronic repair shop and men in black jackets took him away. Now Mimi and her mom live in hiding, in a little apartment next to the old shop. Mimi repairs old broken-down electronics for her neighbors in exchange for cash to save while her mom works a cleaning job downtown. Avoiding school and her old friends, Mimi thinks there's nothing more that can be done to help her Papi. Then, one day, there's a strange light show in the sky, and something craters into her family's repair shop. She finds a strange spherical creature--a robot that looks more like her favorite Gundam characters than anything she's ever seen on Earth. The two become an inseparable pair, and when the feds come looking for the UAP that demolished the shop, Mimi helps her friend escape. Tightly scripted, this novel would engage younger readers interested in robotics or dealing with the sudden loss of a loved one.

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January 1, 2025
Mimi is struggling with the aftermath of the traumatizing deportation of her father when a new friend crosses her path. Twelve-year-old Mimi, who's cued Afro-Latine, lives in Brooklyn with her mami and papi, immigrants from the Dominican Republic, until one terrifying night when men in dark uniforms driving white vans take her father away, and her world collapses. Mimi grows isolated and distant from her mom and three best friends. Like her dad, Mimi knew how to fix broken things--"pretty much anything you could think of Mimi could put back together"--everything except her friendships and family. Joining a school robotics competition drives her to grudgingly team up with her old friends, if only to win the prize money to afford a lawyer and save her dad. But everything is thrown into disarray when colorful lights appear in the night sky, and a creature falls to Earth. Mimi must trust others in order to not only repair her new broken robot friend, but also reunite it with its family and mend her own relationships. In the vein of other classic tales of extraterrestrial encounters, this fresh novel puts a contemporary spin on the story of a child who befriends and rescues an alien, highlighting the plight of refugees, immigrants, and asylum seekers from both nearby and galaxies far away. Fractured friendships and families are repaired with help from new friends from far away.(Science fiction. 9-13)

COPYRIGHT(2025) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from March 1, 2025

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. VERDICT A timely coming-of-age tale that crafts important connections to current social and political issues while engaging readers.-Rebekah J. Buchanan

Copyright 2025 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2025
Six months ago, strangers took twelve-year-old Mimi's papi and deported him. Since then, she's had to take over her father's electronics repair business to help her mother pay for a lawyer. Mimi has been so busy working she has not had time to hang out with her friends or focus on her schoolwork, but when her friends encourage her to enter a robotics contest with a $50,000 cash prize, Mimi cannot say no. Further complicating things: a robot crash-lands in the repair shop. Along with helping her father get back home, Mimi now must help the robot find its family while avoiding an overzealous government agent who is looking for the robots and will do anything to find them. Rodriguez and Ortega have created a fast-paced adventure that skillfully weaves in themes of friendship, family, community, and activism. This is an engaging and accessible addition to middle-grade and middle-school science fiction. Nicholl Denice Montgomery

(Copyright 2025 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2025
Six months ago, strangers took twelve-year-old Mimi's papi and deported him. Since then, she's had to take over her father's electronics repair business to help her mother pay for a lawyer. Mimi has been so busy working she has not had time to hang out with her friends or focus on her schoolwork, but when her friends encourage her to enter a robotics contest with a $50,000 cash prize, Mimi cannot say no. Further complicating things: a robot crash-lands in the repair shop. Along with helping her father get back home, Mimi now must help the robot find its family while avoiding an overzealous government agent who is looking for the robots and will do anything to find them. Rodriguez and Ortega have created a fast-paced adventure that skillfully weaves in themes of friendship, family, community, and activism. This is an engaging and accessible addition to middle-grade and middle-school science fiction.

(Copyright 2025 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)