The Girl and the Robot
by Oz Rodriguez and Claribel A. Ortega
Intermediate, Middle School    Disney-Hyperion    320 pp.
3/25    9781368081856    $17.99

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.

From the ">May/June 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.