The Trouble with Robots

July 15, 2022
Two scared, furious, eighth grade girls will have to work together if they want to win the robotics competition. Allie's been constantly on the edge of enraged explosions since the tragedy that shook her world last year, and she has one last chance: If she gets kicked out of any more electives she'll be expelled. Evelyn, lonely since her best friend moved away and convinced she needs to solve her family's money problems, has become unbearably mean and overbearing toward the rest of her robotics team. When Allie slumps into the classroom and robot-obsessed Evelyn sees one more drag on her chance to win the championships, it's a recipe for disaster. Property damage and a fistfight ensue, and it seems Evelyn, Allie, and the rest of their fractured robotics team can't save their fragile crew--but they must try. Allie opens up to Evelyn about her parents' deaths and about her lack of interest in romance. Evelyn tells Allie about the boys and girls she crushes on, about being autistic and her fear of disappointing her moms. But saving the day won't be about just fixing one robot or winning one tournament. Leadership, they discover, requires passing the mic. Allie and Evelyn are cued White, while their teammates are all kids of color; one boy has cerebral palsy, and the other two boys are dating. Unsubtle but not overwrought, with genuinely inspiring kindness and collaboration found amid pain. (Fiction. 10-13)

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September 15, 2022
Grades 4-8 Robots stacking cubes aren't the only ones fighting in this upper-middle-grade novel about two girls with very different goals coming together to help their class succeed. The Barton robotics team has one more chance to make it to the state championships after a disqualification at an earlier tournament, but team-lead Evelyn's bossiness has ruined her team's motivation. Allie has let her grief turn to anger, and her desire to always be drawing has put her on the principal's chopping block. The girls are forced to work together toward victory, even if the first attempt ends in fisticuffs. Told in dual points of view, the story gives both Evelyn and Allie a chance to show their experiences as eighth-graders handling family money issues, bullies, autism, grief, and friendship. Full of girl power without ever showing them as outsiders in robotics because of their gender, this brings a diverse team to the page and shows the various skills needed to make a team succeed.

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October 31, 2022
Told in alternating points of view, Mohrweis’s emotionally charged debut follows two white eighth graders learning to collaborate around a robotics tournament. After “everything that happened,” often furious Allie Wells is kicked out of elective after elective for lashing out. But she receives one last chance before being transferred to a school for “trouble kids”: though she’s not great with math or science, art-loving Allie is placed in a sparsely attended robotics class. Robotics is deeply important to Evelyn Cole, but in the wake of her best friend moving away and one of her moms losing her job, Evelyn, who is autistic, is seen as micromanaging her robotics crew, which cost the team a recent competition. After tension between the girls turns into an altercation, they slowly bond before learning to work with others—with the future of the school’s robotics elective on the line. Detailed descriptions of the duo’s specialties juxtaposes STEAM elements—art versus robotics, the abstract versus the technical—in a teamwork-oriented plot that delves into self-discovery. Secondary characters are intersectionally diverse. Ages 8–12. Agent: Emily Forney, BookEnds Literary.