Cover Image: Weird Little Robots

Weird Little Robots

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Member Reviews

Cute little story about girls and robots, putting STEM in the forefront for girls. Anyone can be interested in STEM and we should nurture that! But also about friendship and the courage it takes to stand up to some friends for other friends. A bit a magic wrapped up in this one, the robots were cute!

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This is a great story on how friendship and science can bloom together. I wish I had been able to design robots like this when I was a kid.

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Thank you Net galley and publishers for an ARC. All opinions are my own.

What a wonderful read! I loved the story and the innocence of childhood. This is a very relatable storey for young readers as being different is constantly an issue growing up. I loved the characters and overall plot. Highly recommend for 3rd-5th graders.

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Thank goodness books like this exist out in the world. I cannot wait to see what this new generation of kids are like as adults now that they all have these amazing stories of smart girls to read. Even the characters who fit a certain stereotype for Penny Rose ended up proving her wrong. This book shows that there is more to everything than anyone can imagine: more to science, more to friendship, more to imagination… What a fantastic world that Penny and Lark’s story can be told!

And the story itself is one that is fun to read. Not only do you get to read about robots, engineering, ornithology, and even decorating, but the book includes a story that many kids will connect with: do you abandon one to join the others even if the one is your best friend and the others is giving an opportunity that is hard to refuse. That is something that everyone faces more than once in their life. And told in a lyrical and a bit quirky narrative, the story is just fun to read.

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This is such a cute book! It's about a couple of girls that make a secret club for their robots after the robots come to life. But when someone else figures out there is something special about the robots, it quickly becomes obvious that the robots are in danger. The girls will have to overcome their differences (they've had a fight) and save the robots.

This book is perfect to read at Halloween. It's slightly spooky (but only slightly) and takes place at Halloween. It's a lot of fun! Girls and boys that like robots, STEM, toys coming to life, and dreaming big will enjoy this sweet book. It's perfect for the 6-8 age group. It's a short little book with several black and white illustrations sprinkled throughout.

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This was a charming story of two young girls who don't quite fit in with everyone else, but fit together perfectly. Penny is a shy scientist, who builds robots in the shed in her backyard and allows them to be her friends. She wants friends, she just isn't sure how to actually go about making them. Lark is a neighbor who has her own obsession with building amazing bird houses. When the two become friends, the robots come to life as if to agree with their relationship. Penny is confused when she gets an invitation to a secret science society, but is not allowed to tell Lark. She wants to fit in, but loses Lark in the process.

This is a really interesting take on magical realism and allowing younger readers to get a glimpse of someone dealing with social anxiety. Both Penny and Lark have social anxiety, but deal with it in different ways. Together, they are comfortable with themselves and allowed to be true to their inner natures, but when they fight, they realize that an important part of them is missing. There is also a touch of bullying thrown in when the "secret science club" acts like a bunch of mean girls, and one boy, forcing Penny to do things that she isn't comfortable with in order to fit in. This was an oddly charming book.

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This is a refreshing take on the girls in STEM trend we've been seeing in kids books as of late in which we are pitting two girls against each other--one who like dresses and one who likes science.

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My youngest daughter, Fiona, and I read this as a bedtime book for the past couple of weeks. We finished it last night and she loved it. The story is about a little girl who is a little awkward and shy and is trying to make friends in her new town. In her loneliness she starts to create these weird little robots from tiny spare broken things like calculators and dentures, which inexplicably come to life and keep her company. She eventually makes friends with a rather odd little girl down the street who loves birds, who also comes to love the robots. Then she gets a mysterious invitation to join a secret science society and has a chance to make friends with some popular kids -- but the opportunity inadvertently puts her friendship and her robots in jeopardy.

There are some hand-drawn illustrations in this sweet chapter book, which is about 33 short chapters. It was a fun read for me as well as for my daughter. She's asked me to find more by the author, which I'm inclined to do. This is a very G-rated book well suited for younger kids.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

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This is such a clever little book about making friends, losing friends, and then making them again.

Mean girls are not what they seem.

And weird girls are more fun then they seem.

Penny has no friends. She decides she wants to change that. She loves making little robots out of discarded bits of trash. She notices her neighbor Lark makes birdhouses from little bits of trash.

This is a charming story of wanting something, and working to it, and, with the help of a little magic getting it.

I was worried, as one should be, when Penny didn't recognize what a good friend she had in Lark. I was worried she would ruin her friendship.

Which I suppose is how books pull at your heartstrings.

Lovely moral which would be, don't throw away good friends, even if other friends look better.

The one quibble I have with the book is although I love the illustrations, they are not drawing the right phone for the robot called iPam, which is supposed to be based on the iPhone, but looks like a much older phone.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

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Two girls who begin this story as unsure of each other as they are of themselves. As they begin to spend time together, they discover they have more in common than they thought. They also discover that the robots one girl creates have begun to take on a life of their own.

While the premise of the story is sweet, the characters didn’t seem realistic and the story itself was a bit disjointed. The reader will be enjoy the way the adorably awkward protagonists grow into themselves, but might find the transitions between the story of their friendship, and the story of the robots difficult to navigate.

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Twenty years ago I would have picked up a book like this to find it was about two science loving boys. Thank goodness we’ve progressed with a story about two girls and their unique science-focused interests. Penny Rose makes intricate robots from discarded parts while Lark is a bird watcher who builds and decorates bird houses.

Numerous full page illustrations appear throughout, each a welcome addition to the nicely paced plot. At its core, Weird Little Robots is a story about friendship. Not only what that means, but the elements needed to make it last. The third person narration stays close to Penny Rose, new to all this friend business. Her choices aren’t always the right ones, but she learns from her mistakes.

There’s never an explanation why the robots are alive, but it doesn’t really matter. We’ll leave it as magic. Each of the robots has a unique personality they only share with the two girls. But when the stereotypical boy bully gets involved their friendship is tested.

The positive messages put forth and the read-aloud potential with the mostly short 32 chapters are the main reasons to give this one a go. Readers will also find messing around with science stuff is hard to resist.

(For the top five reasons I like this book click on the link below)

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Weird Little Robots is anything but weird — it’s delightful. The fact that the robots come to life makes perfect sense in Penny Rose’s world. Why wouldn’t they. This magical element helps highlight and balance the real-world problems kids deal with every day.

Carolyn Crimi’s prose is crisp and inviting. Believable dialogue helps move the story forward as does the overall paragraph/chapter structure. Corinna Luyeken’s sweet illustration have an earnestness to them that adds emotion and light throughout.

The suggested age range is 8-12, but I can see 7-year-olds enjoying Weird Little Ones as a read-aloud.

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Two girls discover their mutual love of tinkering and science in this quirky, fun, illustrated novel. Eleven-year-old Penny Rose is new in town, and doesn’t really have any friends yet – unless you count the little robots she makes in her shed. She makes them out of found objects, and tinkers lovingly with them, giving them names and looking after them every day. Lark, her neighbor, is a quirky girl next door who loves birds and tinkers with found objects given to her by the crows; she makes birdhouses to keep her friends safe from the elements. The two girls become friends and create an entire town for the little robots… and when a mysterious wind sweeps through their town, it brings some surprises with it! But while Penny and Lark enjoy one another’s company, a secret science club at school offers Penny membership in their society. Penny feels the tug between her new best friend and a group of like-minded science friends, but making the wrong decisions for the wrong reasons could cost Penny her best friend and the robots that she loves so much.

This is such an unconventional, enjoyable book! I love the idea of making creations out of found objects, and the touch of magical realism infused in this story makes it a joy to read. It’s a STEM story, a friendship story, and a comforting story about second chances. The little robots have their own personalities, each reflected in their names, bestowed on them by Penny. Penny is more tech-focused, while Lark prefers the world around her, showing that making and tinkering presents endless creations. The black and white illustrations throughout give life to the story and keep readers interested as they move through the book.

There’s a downloadable guide with discussion questions and activities, making this a good idea for an ELA/Science partnership or book club/Discovery Club program. I can’t wait until my library’s copy arrives, so I can start telling kids how much they need to read this book. Maybe it’s time for a secret science society at MY library… hmmmm…

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A charming story about a the challenges of friendship and the challenges of being yourself while trying to fit in.with the a group. Good characters and a valuable lessons about being true to yourself and being a good friend.

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This is a decent story of friendship and learning who your true friends are infused with the main character's passion for her robots that come to life.

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Fifth graders, Penny Rose and Lark, aren’t your average students. These two create their own robot world out of things they find. As they build their friendship they discover the magic of the robots and the adventures of true friendship starts.

This is a must have book for upper elementary students. It displays that it is ok to be different and how girls can play a part in STEM activities. It also shows what it means to be a true friend and to be true to yourself.

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This is a very cute story about two young girls who each have their own quirks. Penny Rose, who creates robots and Lark, a girl who designs and builds birdhouses, come together and form a friendship as they create a world for the robots Penny Rose has created. I loved how Carolyn Crimi included nods to female scientist and engineers throught the story. I also enjoyed the twists and turns throughout the story. This tale of friendship and forgiveness is a great tale for elementary aged students. I plan on purchasing it for our library.

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An excellent story about friendship, tinkering, making mistakes, science, and forgiveness. A weird little combination, but Crimi pulls it off effortlessly. Recommended for grades 1-4.

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“Weird Little Robots” by Carolyn Crimi is a chapter book about science-savy girls who are navigating the intricacies of friendship while creating a magical world of robots.

This is a title I would definitely recommend to teachers, librarians, and homeschoolers as it features girls with a passion for science (STEM and birdwatching), robots and birdhouses made out of recycled items, has a great friendship theme, and lots of creativity and problem-solving.

The illustrations throughout the book are fabulous.

Thanks to Candlewick Press and Netgalley for allowing me to review the digital ARC.

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Very sweet book about two girls who create a world for their robots. There is so much to like here- the quirky personalities of the robots, the burgeoning but imperfect friendship between Lark and Penny Rose, even the idea of a Super Secret Science Club dating back to 1969. But it felt unfinished to me. I would eagerly trade Jeremy for more information about the creation of the robots or inner workings of the science club.

3.5 stars. Will recommend to 2nd+ through 4th graders.

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