A sweet story that focused on topic of family and fighting for the people you love. The hijinks of the Mimi and her friends are fun and add a lot of humor to the story. Mimi was smart and sassy and funny! A very timely novel as it deals with issue of immigration, deportation, poverty and past traumas. But does so in a way fitting for the middle grade audience.

I loved this story about a young girl who meets an alien robot and has to work to keep her new friend safe from the government! Her friends and side characters were all deeply developed, and I loved how Mimi's experience with her robot friend mirrored her own family life. Highly recommend!

An excellent STEM addition to shelves for 3rd-5th graders, I hope to see this on future state award lists!

Mimi is good at fixing all things electronic. She wishes she were able to fix the fact that her dad has been deported, leaving her and her mom to try to keep the family together and make a living. She's isolated herself from her friends, so when they invite her to be a part of a competition that has the potential to win $50,000, she is surprised and grateful and ready to get to work. She gets some help from a robot that has crashed to earth and in addition to wanting to help her dad, she also wants to reunite the robot with its family. This is a fun and exciting read and I think kids are going to like it a lot. It has big themes of family and friendship and communication.

The Girl and The Robot by Oz Rodriguez is an interesting take on current events. Juxtapositioning Mimi's father's deportation (which happens very quickly and violently in the beginning of the novel) with the appearance of a robot from outer space offers just enough distraction in the book to allow young readers to experience the horrors of losing a family member. Mimi Isolates herself in many ways in the novel and has to learn to rely on her community to find peace and solace as well as working with them to find a way to potentially get her father back. I ultimately wish the story would go a little bit deeper into the reasons behind her father's forced departure, perhaps through a conversation with her mother, but other wise I thought this story did a good job painting a semi-realistic picture of what many kids are experiencing right now.

Middle grade scifi that is a perfect for your kiddos who may be reluctant readers. I also think it would make a good classroom read, due to its very timely message.

"Something being broken doesn't make the parts any less beautiful."

Mechanic Mimi is relatable for middle schoolers and adults alike. Her drive to fix everything is absolutely going to resonate with readers.

Is the robot a metaphor? (Remember the ET movie?)

Timely
Tense
Ultimately Triumphant

A book for anyone who has felt alienated or alone. With snippets of Spanish sprinkled in this heartwarming story of a girl whose father is deported as the book opens gives a lesson on the real meaning of family and what it means to feel alone.
There is enough action and intrigue to keep younger readers entertained while they hopefully learn that even when they feel alone they don't have to be.

Courtesy of time spent working with her father, Mimi is an electronics repair whiz. After her father is deported back to the Dominican Republic, Mimi misses him desperately. She puts her skills to use to bring in money to use towards securing his return to the US, straining her relationships with her longtime friends. Her friends reach out to her, asking her to join a robotics contest. When Mimi hears that the contest has a large cash prize, she agrees to join forces with her old pals, and they begin to work on their ideas. One night an unusual flash of lights appears over her dad’s shuttered repair shop and crashes. Mimi is compelled to investigate and is shocked to find a small robot alien. As Mimi learns about Dot-e, it becomes clear that the robot is missing her family, just as she is missing her dad. Mimi and her friends secretly set out to rescue Dot-e’s mother and reunite the pair, despite rogue federal Agent Gallo’s attempts to thwart their mission.

The positive representation of girls in STEM really stands out here, with Mimi taking the lead on the robotics project and on uncovering the mysteries surrounding Dot-e, both with assists from her friends. The parallels between Mimi’s and Dot-e’s situations in this sci-fi story with emotional family drama will be easily apparent to readers and tug on reader heartstrings as the story races to a high-stakes conclusion.

Great book for upper elementary and middle schoolers. Gentle sci-fi, places sympathetic poor hispanic girl as heroine and leader, suspensefull but not scary, and optimistic ending. Looking forward to publication so I can purchase it for my grandsons and my local library.

The characters are engaging and authentic. The plot is a well written would be a great introduction to science fiction.. The world building is well done and brings Mimi’s world to life. Themes of fractured friendships, family, STEM and immigration are mixed throughout the book. I will purchase this book for the library and will recommend for our battle of the books.

A fun and exciting book that also has big things to say! Loved how Rodriguez and Ortega wove current events and themes into such an engaging plot for young readers. Sure to spark lots of discussion. Highly recommend.

Mimi Perez used to help fix broken electronics at her dad's shop until he was deported. Now, she uses her skills to try and save money to help pay to bring him back home while her mom, Ramona, is working way too hard cleaning businesses. They now share one room they rent - and are always behind on the payments packed with as much oftheir personal items as they could fit. In her grief and focus to get her dad back, Mimi pulled away from her cousin, Jada, and her best friends, Los and Benny. One night, the sky over Brookly becomes a beautiful light show and something crashes into Mim's dad's boarded up shop. Investigating, she finds a robot, Dot-E, and bonds with the space robot quickly, determined to help it find its mother. Feds are crawling all over Brooklyn and Mim's friends convince her to join the robotics competition with them in the hopes of winning the grand prize, bragging rights, and more followers for their ClickTock. A federal agent is sure that Mimi knows something about Dot-E, convinced the space robot and the missing mother will be his ticket to getting a promotion, a raise, and more power. Mimi is a nuanced character filled with her hopes and dreams, her fears, grief, and guilt, and her need to help Dot-E find its mother stems from her need to bring her father home. A fun adventure, especially when Mimi brings her friends into the search and gets the backing of her mother, the neighborhood, and even a teacher even if they don't know about Dot-E. The STEM premise layered with social media, coming-of-age, family and friendship drama keep the pages turning.

This was a fun read perfect for kids looking for science fiction. I liked the teamwork between the friends and how they worked through their problems. I could give this to boys or girls to enjoy equally.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I really wanted to like this book about a middle-school-aged tech-savvy girl finding a robot from outer space, but on the whole, I did not enjoy this story.

I didn't like that the dialogue felt forced, with so much slang to make the kids sound modern and cool that it was hard to understand at times. I didn't like that the themes came across as heavy-handed and simplistic (kids are capable of understanding some subtlety). And I really didn't like that the main character, Mimi, was a terrible role model. She skipped school constantly and barely batted an eye at lying to her mom throughout the book. The only consequence that resulted from any of this bad behavior is that she was grounded for one weekend, during which she was still allowed to FaceTime her friends and work on her pet science project.

I did like the girls in STEM representation and that the authors pulled no punches in portraying some heartbreaking aspects of the immigrant experience, but overall this is not a book I will be handing to my own middle-grade readers or recommending to others.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC! It was a very well-paced read, dealing with heavy topics while also making it digestible for the reader. Overall, a great read and I think it's a perfect read

Just like in E. T., the robot is looking for a way home. Mimi is also looking for a way home: reconnecting with friends and cousins; bringing dad home. This theme was strong in the story, but there was a lot of repetition which slowed the story down for me. I did enjoy Mimi's story and will recommend to the right readers.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!
I laughed, I cried, I sighed *rinse and repeat* Combine the antics of a 7th grader with the realities of living in less than stellar circumstances (slight spoiler but Mimi loses her Dad through a very specific way and it might be a bit triggering for those else who are familiar with 🧊 la migra)
The relationship Mimi redevelops with her friends with adorable. Also robots?! How cool were they! This would be great for anyone who has a middle schooler that is invested in robots and fixing trinkets. If you haven't seen Wall-E or Wild Robot, this is meant for those who also want to dip their toes in the sci fi world without all the complexities. Also let's keep encouraging girls to work in STEM. <3

The Girl and the Robot by Oz Rodriguez and Claribel Ortega is absolutely a book I would buy for an elementary age child. It is engaging and it educates the reader about situations that exist in the United States for people who are not able to immigrate legally. It also shows girls who are able to use technology and repair electronics, which I love. It was an enjoyable read, but not life-changing. (But I am not this book's target audience, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I think the target audience would really enjoy it.)

The publisher was right on the money saying this is a mash up of E.T. and The Iron Giant. Kids are going to just inhale this book because it is so cinematic. The descriptions just jump off the page like a movie playing in your head. I loved it!

E.T. meets The Iron Giant in this MG sci adventure story.
🤖
Mimi Perez wants nothing more than to bring Papi home after ICE raids their home and takes him away. So she works odd jobs such as fixing electronics for people in her neighborhood for extra cash. When the opportunity arises for a robotics competition that pays $50,000, Mimi decides to reunite with her old friend group to make the best robot ever. What isn’t part of the plan is hiding a mysterious robot that crash landed on earth near her apartment. When federal agents show up to try and take the robot away, Mimi does everything she can to reunite the robot with her parents.
🤖
This was such a sweet story that, at its heart, is a story about what one will do to be with the people they love. Stories like Mimi’s happen everyday in America and it makes me angry and sad and disgusted with how we treat refugees and non-citizens in America. Let’s continue to publish books like these that show the human side of immigration. This title releases March 25.

CW: deportation, trauma, poverty, immigration issues