The Trouble With Robots

by Michelle Mohrweis

Evelyn strives for excellence. Allie couldn’t care less. Together, these polar opposites must work together if they have any hope of saving their school’s robotics program.

Eighth-graders Evelyn and Allie are in trouble. Evelyn’s constant need for perfection has blown some fuses among her robotics teammates, and she’s worried nobody’s taking the upcoming competition seriously. Allie is new to school, and she’s had a history of short-circuiting on teachers and other kids.

So when Allie is assigned to the robotics team as a last resort, all Evelyn can see is just another wrench in the works! But as Allie confronts a past stricken with grief and learns to open up, the gears click into place as she discovers that Evelyn’s teammates have a lot to offer—if only Evelyn allowed them to participate in a role that plays to their strengths.

Can Evelyn learn to let go and listen to what Allie has to say? Or will their spot in the competition go up in smoke along with their school’s robotics program and Allie’s only chance at redemption?

An excellent pick for STEAM enthusiasts, this earnestly told narrative features a dual point of view and casually explores Autistic and LGBTQ+ identities.

Genres: Middle Grade, Contemporary, Queer, LGBT, Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Realistic Fiction, Fiction

384 pages, Hardcover

First published September 27, 2022

About the author

Michelle Mohrweis is a STEM Educator and space enthusiast. When not writing, they can be found launching paper rockets down the middle of their street. They live with their husband and two dogs in Colorado, where they enjoy hiking and hogging all the best spots beside the heater when it gets too cold. Visit them on the web at MichelleMohrweis.com.

​Michelle is represented by Emily Forney at BookEnds Literary Agency.

Reviews

[Anniek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this, and it did not disappoint. I would love to see more people reading this, because it's such a great middlegrade story that deserves a lot more ratings and reviews!

From the very first page, this book punched me in the gut with how emotionally invested I immediately felt. When you're 13, your emotions all feel so heightened and intense, and this was really palpable throughout the entire book.

The book has two main character: Evelyn, who is autistic and (I assume) bisexual, and Addie, who is questioning aroace. Evelyn already loves robotics and Addie is just getting into it, and they start off fighting, but throughout the book, they figure out that maybe they could get along great and even be friends.

As an autistic and aroace person, it was really great to see this representation in one book! And I especially loved how fleshed out both characters were and how they each had very clear flaws but were also so loveable.

[Megan Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you were ever in robotics, definitely read this one! It's only been a few years since I graduated out of my team, but this book sent me right back to those days, and I was buzzing with the same kind of anticipation I always did at competitions while reading. I loved this story so much!! To see a character like me doing something I loved was absolutely incredible. I will definitely be reading this again

[Michelle Mohrweis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Given that I'm the author, I'm a bit biased, but I love this book so much. I really hope you as the reader will enjoy it as well.

This book is for the kids who don't always feel like they fit in, for the kids who are trying so hard to figure out the whole friendship thing. It's for the autistic kids like Evelyn who are trying so hard to accomplish their goals and make sense of the world. It's for the "troublemakers" like Allie who are drowning in a million worries and spiraling in a way they don't know how to stop. It's for the lonely kids and the goofy kids and the kids who find friendship in the people they never expected. And it’s for the robotics lovers, the kids who can’t get enough of tournament robotics and all the fun that world brings!

I put my heart into this book. I filled it with my love of robotics, my stimms and sound sensitivity, and all those feelings of wonder and frustration, of excitement and nerves as young me tried to navigate middle school and the world. I wrote it for you, the readers who I hope will love Evelyn and Allie, even as they make mistakes. And I wrote it for a younger me, the kid who so badly needed the representation this book provides.

Thank you so much for giving my little robotics book a chance. ❤

[Eloise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Things I really appreciated:
- a bi autistic MC learning and growing
- an aroace MC learning to deal with grief and anger issues
- both of them, with others, coming together and becoming great friends
- girls and young kids into STEM and robotics !!
- queer parents !!!

Despite this, I didn't really fully get into this story. I didn't feel much urgency for anything, didn't come to care as much as i wanted to. I didn't dislike the characters, far from it, but i don't think I'll remember much of this tomorrow.

I still hope younger readers will read and find themselves in books like this one.

I talk about books here: Instagram / TikTok / Linktree

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been meaning to read this for ages and I'm so happy that I finally did. This is a older middle grade / very young young adult about an autistic bi girl who loves robotics but struggles with teamwork and then a questioning aroace girl trying to work through grief and trauma.

I really appreciated the description of the robotics as someone who is not a robotics/sciency person. Is very easy to manage and grasp and understand what was going on even if I don't fully understand how a robot would be made. I think it's a very approachable for middle grade and has a wide audience even though it's content is pretty niche.

I saw a lot of myself in both of the characters since I'm both autistic and aroace and seeing them be able to discuss it and learn and grow at that age was really valuable for me. I liked it a lot. They're messy but they're lovable and they're very realistic characters.

[Raina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Evelyn and Allie both feel like outsiders. Evelyn is struggling to pull her robotics team together. Allie keeps getting in trouble at school and is on the brink of being expelled. When Allie is forced to join the robotics team, it starts to look like a disastrous combination. The story is told in alternating chapters between Evelyn and Allie’s perspectives.

While Evelyn and Allie both cue White, all of the remaining members of the robotics team are cued POC and have a variety of abilities and sexual identities. Evelyn is Autistic, and Allie is starting to realize that she may be Asexual.
They both learn lessons about teamwork and friendship as they get ready for a big robotics tournament.

Pretty great realistic stuff for middle school.

[Maddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you so much to the author and NetGalley for an ARC of this lovely book!

I don’t normally read middle-grade books, but this was such an adorable read that I might have to reconsider that. There was plenty representation too, which is brilliant for younger readers, who deserve to see themselves in literature!

[Ally · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got an ARC from Ala because AJ’s friends with the author

This was harder to read at times than I was expecting, because I’m pretty sure I WAS that obnoxious neurodivergent kid in middle school everyone found inflexible and annoying, but this is the kinda book I wish I’d had at that age, because what I wouldn’t give to go back and tell my 8th grade self she deserves friends who will understand and appreciate her.

Mortifying ordeal of being known aside! This was cute! And way more intense at the end than I was expecting!

[Kim Wilch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Told in dual points of view, the reader can identify with both main characters. It’s an intense read that addresses so many issues to provide help and hope for many! It champions teamwork by problem solving everyone’s unique challenges to focus on their strengths. The character development throughout the the story is remarkable. Good job!

[Ocean · Rating 4 out of 5]

The main characters are Evelyn (who is autistic and bisexual) and Allie (questioning aroace). Evelyn absolutely love robotics, but she likes to be in control of everything and is pushing her teammates away. When Allie is forced to join the robotics class after her outbursts in school, she is initially reluctant. Despite a rocky start, Evelyn and Allie find a way to work together, and as their friendship blossoms, they help each other turn things around. The robotics team goes from strength to strength as they learn to play to their strengths and manage to accept one another. I absolutely loved this story, the personal growth of all the characters was incredible, but especially Evelyn and Allie. I would love to read more books by this author!

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher Peachtree, and the author Michelle Mohrweis for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

The Trouble with Robots was a delightful debut that I enjoyed way more than I expected! The book follows 8th graders Evelyn and Allie through chapters with alternating perspectives, two girls that could not be more different yet connect through their robotics class. Evelyn is autistic and loves robotics more than anything, but she faces challenges as the Team Lead with being too controlling. On the other hand, Allie has no interest in robotics but has to join the class if she wants to stay at her school. Throughout the novel, readers see both sides of the girls' stories and learn more about them as individuals and eventually friends while they work together to lead their robotics team to an important tournament.

I am hesitant about STEM/STEAM novels because it is not a personal interest of mine, and I feel that there is an oversaturation of anything related to these topics in the market. However, this one definitely stood out to me and had me hooked from the start. The characters are all engaging, and I liked that the alternating perspectives included someone who was not "all in" to robotics at first. Any reader, whether it be someone picking it up for the subject matter or someone just curious, will be able to relate to different aspects of the story. I genuinely found myself rooting for their team throughout and would love to see future stories that focused more on some of the side characters. There is SO much diversity throughout, with loads of LGBTQ+ rep (including aro/ace and nonbinary rep, which was AMAZING to see in a middle grade!!), as well as ethnic and cultural diversity. I also appreciated the representation of a character with autism and other major discussions of grief and mental health. Everything was handled in a way that is approachable and appealing for younger readers. I do feel that the girls' voices were not always distinct, and I would have liked to see some visual elements in Allie's chapters, since that was a big part of the storyline. Although not the most lifechanging book I've ever read, I think this has potential to be very popular with the middle grade crowd, due to the anime-style cover, diverse characters, and STEAM subject matter. I am curious to see if this becomes a series, and I look forward to future works by Mohrweis!

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being a part of the robotics team at Barton Junior High School has been the highlight of Evelyn Cole’s life so far. She has her sights set on competing at the World championships and earning scholarships so she can help her mothers support her through college. But when Evelyn’s best friend Naiely moves away, it becomes painfully clear just how much Naiely was the glue holding their robotics team together. All the unpleasant sides of Evelyn’s personality take center stage, which inevitably pushes her teammates far away from her and their shared goals. It is up to everyone to look inside themselves and make different choices in order to rebuild their team in time for the next big competition.

This story is written from the dual perspectives of Evelyn and Allie, a girl who has never been interested in robotics but finds herself unwillingly added to Evelyn’s team. As challenges arise that the girls must overcome, each of them is forced to face some of the less glamorous truths about their personalities and choose how to manage them. The entire book is written in the first person, shifting between Evelyn and Allie with each chapter, and this gives readers deep insight into the two girls’ feelings and desires without them having to share these sensations out loud. At its heart, this is a story about self discovery and redemption told through the lens of a middle school robotics class.

Readers will appreciate the wide range of diverse characters represented within this novel, from same-sex parents and relationships to differing physical and mental abilities including cerebral palsy and autism. While all of these elements are mentioned in the story, however, they are not a primary feature of the narrative. Instead, the plot is focused more on the shared connection the characters feel and how they face the universal human challenges of acceptance and camaraderie. Anyone who has ever had to work on a team will recognize the exaggerated personalities used in this novel, and young readers will especially appreciate being able to observe the consequences of behaving certain ways alongside positive modeling of how to live with greater empathy. This charming middle grade story is an excellent addition to STEM curricula for middle grade readers.

[Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really cute middle-grade novel about friendship and learning to work with others. I really appreciated both the disability rep (autistic main character, CP side character) and the queer rep (bi main character, ace/aro main character). The emphasis on robotics was really fun; my school never had money for a robotics team like the one in the book, but I went to many robotics and coding camps as a kid and young teen that I loved. I really liked Evelyn and Allie's friendship dynamic and the way they both worked to bring the entire robotics team together. I wish I had gotten around to reading this book sooner and I'm excited to pick up the companion novel!

[lexie · Rating 2 out of 5]

[Thanks to NetGalley and Peachtree for providing me with a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest opinion!]

2.5* This was… OK. Sure, it was nice and had representation plus some perspective on hard things you don’t usually read about in a middle-grade, and it could be really great for autistic kids or really any kid that struggles with friendships or school. On top of that, there’s ace, bisexual and gay rep. But for me, it wasn’t it, I kind of found it a bit boring, but that could be because I’m not a kid and I don’t have the same problems I had back then…

[Dani Terk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am struggling to find the words to adequately describe how much I LOVE this book. On the surface it is a light and fun story about an unlikely group of students overcoming their differences to become a team while building robots, but underneath, it is so incredibly deep. It is packed with everyday kids, that you love and cheer for, dealing with really HARD things. It features poignant explorations of grief, searching for belonging, defining one's identify, and dealing with all the pressures and burdens kids shoulder. This book is also a beautiful celebration of diversity in all its forms. I'm so grateful young readers will get to know and love Evelyn, Allie, and the rest of their team of smart, pragmatic, compassionate, and inspiring engineers!

[Lea Nasser · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun, emotional and perfect MG book. I absolutely enjoyed reading The Trouble With Robots and will be reading anything and everything Michelle Mohrweis publishes in the future. You won't find a more funny and fun friendship group like Team B. I absolutely loved Evelyn and Allie, (especially Allie, I love angry characters struggling with grief because boy does that always get me). The Trouble With Robots, 5 stars!!!

[Dusty · Rating 5 out of 5]

RATING: 5 STARS

Michelle Morhweis’ The Trouble with Robots is a heartwarming and educational contemporary middle-grade STEAM book. Told from two different points of view, readers are treated to a story that’s empowering, celebrates differences, and champions teamwork and cooperation.

Allie and Evelyn couldn’t be more different. Allie lives with her Grandma and has been struggling in school as a result of her parent’s death. Evelyn, on the other hand, is autistic and lives with her two Moms. Robotics is her passion, and she’s driven to do things right the first time. When Allie is forced to join the class and the two girls meet they realize that have a lot to learn (and lots of room to grow).

The characters are the heart of the story. Building a robot is a team effort, and everyone has a role to play and a way to contribute. At the beginning of the book, there was a lot of friction and butting heads, especially as Evelyn tried to micromanage everything. But when Allie joined the group, it helped smooth things out and their efficiency skyrocketed. For example, Allie took over the creation of the team notebook, lending her artistic skills to the effort. Varsha got to exercise her creative writing skills and write the team descriptions. Evelyn got to lead the team still and utilize her extensive robotics knowledge, but her team developed some ways to gently nudge her when she was being too pushy. I was amused by the small drawings Allie would hold up as a sort of silent signal. The children on the team truly gelled into a cohesive unit that valued everyone’s individual contributions and skills by the end of the book, and the adults (and their high school-level idols) saw that. As a reader, it was so rewarding to be a part of this journey. Go Barton Team B!

On another level, there is also a lot of diverse representation in this book. There’s a wide range of cultures and backgrounds represented in the team and the other students. Many of the characters are members of the LGBTQ+ community (Evelyn is bisexual, she has two moms, Allie is aro/ace, Santino and Alex are dating). You also have some neurodivergent representation (Evelyn is on the autistic spectrum) and some disability representation as well (DJ has cerebral palsy). I really appreciated how the strengths of each person were acknowledged, and not just the areas they struggle. For example, DJ can’t really draw that well due to his cerebral palsy but he’s a top-notch driver. Evelyn struggles to cope with loud situations (which she manages with headphones) but she’s a kick-butt problem solver. It’s so important for readers, especially at the middle-grade level, to learn that there’s no one way to do life and this book champions that idea.

The Trouble with Robots was a fantastic debut novel, and I’m so excited to see what the author will publish in the future. Readers young and old who want a book that’s inclusive, heartwarming, and filled with character growth should definitely check this one out! You may even learn a couple of things about robots in the process.

Thank you to the author, the publisher Peachtree Publishing/Holiday House Books, Jaime at Rockstar Book Tours, and Edelweiss for providing me a complimentary review copy of the book as part of my participation in the tour. I appreciate the opportunity to read and review The Trouble with Robots immensely. Please note - I voluntarily read and reviewed the book. All opinions expressed in the review are my own and not influenced in any way.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Bullying, Car Crash (Historical, Not on Page), Parental Death (Historical), Grief, Anger, Verbal Abuse, Money Insecurity

[Kellye Crocker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This funny and heartfelt STEM friendship story swept me off my feet. Here are only three reasons why:

The Main Characters
Evelyn loves everything about robotics class, but this isn’t some fanciful hobby. Winning robotics competitions is Evelyn’s ticket to college, an engineering career, and helping her cash-strapped moms. A trip to the world’s robotics competition will seal the deal and allow her to see her best—and only—friend, who recently moved to another state.

But as the story opens, Evelyn’s bossiness and I-can-do-it-better-myself attitude has alienated her teammates and led to disaster. Her teacher has given her one last chance to prove she can be an effective leader for her junior high’s robotics Team B.

Meanwhile, Allie—do not call her Allison—might be spending more time at the principal’s office and in-school suspension than in class these days. Since Allie’s parents died in a car crash about a year ago, a beast has grown inside her and it’s eager to rage.

Allie, a talented artist, has zero interest in robotics, but if she gets kicked out of one more elective, she’ll be sent to the school for bad kids, and that would disappoint her loving grandmother.

The dual pov works really well here, offering insight into well-rounded characters who keep a lot inside. Evelyn hasn’t told her team that she has anxiety and is autistic, which is why she avoids eye contact and wears over-the-ear headphones to muffle the noises that are too loud and jarring. Allie hasn’t told anyone about her parents, fearing their pity.

Evelyn and Allie are smart, creative, good-hearted characters—loveable in their very human imperfections as they try to do better, mess up, and try again.

The Plot
Evelyn and Allie stumble when first forced to work together. But they adapt, especially when they learn the principal might cut the school’s robotics program.

Under Evelyn’s leadership—and with Allie’s help—Team B evolves from a group of random kids to a team that values each contributor’s gifts. The journey to true friendship among group members is believable and inspiring.

The author, a robotics and engineering teacher, clearly knows their stuff. They sprinkle in all kinds of cool details that robotics and other STEM kids will enjoy. But if, like me, you know nothing about robotics, don’t worry. I never felt lost or bored.

There are fun twists here. The heart-pounding finale brought tears to my eyes and gave me chills.

Diversity Rep
The range of diversity is deep, wide, and refreshing. The Team B kids represent a variety of races, cultures, abilities, and income levels—all with their own personalities, perspectives and interests—like real kids. There are gay kids and straight kids, and I especially appreciated that Evelyn has crushes on girls and boys, and Allie doesn’t have those feelings about anybody. She later learns she might be aromatic or asexual, identities that are new to her. This kind of representation is especially important for middle grade readers. The onslaught of puberty brings pressure to couple up or at least pine over someone from afar. Readers need to know that if they or someone they know likes more than one gender or isn’t interested in that kind of thing, that’s fine. There’s no one right way to be human.

Kids who are autistic or into robotics will likely enjoy seeing aspects of themselves in these pages. I think it’s just as important for all kids to meet these characters. This story encourages readers to embrace their weird and wonderful authentic selves and to look beyond the surface when meeting others.

[abbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Evelyn and Allie are complete opposites of each other, but they get placed on the same robotics team - the one Evelyn is struggling to lead. When they learn the principle wants to cut robotics program, can they all pull it together to succeed? Can Evelyn learn to lead her team so she can remain the team leader? And can Allie contain her outbursts so she's not kicked out of robotics, and also her school?

This book gets one giant YES from me. It's told in dual POV with chapters from Evelyn & Allie's POV and we see so much character growth within both of them.

Evelyn is autistic and is struggling to lead her robotics team. She struggles in communication and wanting everything to be perfect, so she does all the work. When she's threatened with losing her spot as team leader, she tries to improve her leadership skills. However, she can't do it alone. She needs the help of Allie, who she got off on the wrong foot with.

Allie is suffering from grief and has outbursts of anger with her teachers. This has resulted in her being kicked out of class after class, and robotics is her last chance. She hates that she's put into robotics and acts out once again. That is, until she learns just how she can be helpful to the robotics team.

I'll leave all the details of just how these characters achieve their character growth a surprise, but it's wonderful to read both of their perspectives, and to see just how they function as people and how they overcome their difficulties together.

The representation in this book is so well done and we have so much of it, from queerness to BIPOC characters to disability and more. This is going to be such an important book for middle grade readers and even for older readers as well who will see themselves here.

We also see a little bit of Allie questioning her sexual and romantic orientations, and we see questioning of aro & ace identities. I absolutely love seeing this in middle grade books because Allie's thoughts and feelings so much mirrored my thoughts and feelings in middle school, only I didn't have the words to define or even understand it. I really hope this book will help young questioning aro & ace kids and give them the words necessary to learn about themselves.

Rep: autistic MC, MC with anxiety, bi MC, questioning aroace MC, achillean SCs, nonbinary SC, BIPOC SCs, SC with cerebral palsy

CW: bullying, car crash (past), parental death (past), grief/anger, autistic meltdown, money insecurity, verbal abuse

Rating system:
5 - absolutely love, little-to-no dislikes that did not impact my reading experience

4 - great book, minor dislikes that did have an impact on my reading experience

3 - good/decent book but for some reason did not hook me or there were some problematic things that just were not addressed or greatly impacted my reading experience

2 - is either a book I did not click with and did not enjoy, problematic aspects are not addressed and severely impacted my reading experience, or I DNF'd but think it has potential for others

1 - is very problematic, I would not recommend the book to anyone

Thank you to Netgalley & Peachtree for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. Expected pub date: September 20, 2022.

[Manon the Malicious · Rating 4 out of 5]

*4.25 Stars*

I was provided an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Evelyn is the leader of her robotics team but things are not going well. Her teammates resent her and the bad vibe has become so bad that they got disqualified from a tournament. The teacher in charge gives Evelyn one last chance to let her teammates actually be part of the team before she replaces her.
Allie has been through some shit and now she lashes out. She has been kicked out of many classes for talking back to teachers and fighting. So the principal gives her one more chance, she has to stay in the robotics class, that's the last elective class she hasn't been taken out of, if she can't stay in it, she'll have to change school, and Allie cannot fathom disappointing her grandmother that way.
The problem is that Allie and Evelyn do not get along. Their strong personalty do not go well together and the two clash immediately, but they'll have to make it work if they want to reach their goals.

This was an interesting read. I don't know what I expected but it wasn't exactly that. I read it pretty fast and enjoyed it. I liked the characters, I liked the diversity, especially the different disabilities we saw throughout the book. I teared up a bit at times, I laughed a bit too. It was truly enjoyable. I also liked the whole robotics tournament thing. It was kind of fun and new to me. i really liked the side characters as well, especially the teammates, Evelyn's parents and Allie's gran.
Basically, this was a fun yet heavy middle grade. I love an autistic bi pov just as much as I like an ace one. If any of this sounds appealing at all, my advice is to just go for it!

[Donna Metler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is based on an eARC. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review it.

Evelyn loves robots. She has loved them since her mom brought home a kit years ago, and has been watching Battlebots and building robots out of anything she can (including Mama’s hairdryer) for years. They make sense in a world which often doesn’t, which is too loud, too noisy, too overwhelming. And now, she is on a middle school robotics team that could give her everything. A chance to go to nationals and see her best friend, who moved away, the chance to get on a top high school team, get a scholarship, become and engineer, and make life better for her mom and mama.

Allie is struggling with anger and grief the death of her parents, a new school, and a lack of connection. When she is kicked out of art class after arguing with the teacher over whether anime qualifies, and assigned to robotics, she is even more frustrated.

The Trouble with Robots manages to hit a lot of “diversity” points. The cast of characters, is diverse in race, orientation, SES level. Family structure, neurology, interests and talents. Yet, somehow, doesn’t feel shoved in. The discussions are natural and logical. So are Evelyn and Allie’s struggles, and their eventual and growing friendship as the team gradually connects, and becomes a cohesive team. It also reflects much of the cooperative and community spirit of robotics hobbyists and competition,

This was an enjoyable book to read and one that would appeal to a range of people. It is well worth including in classroom and community libraries. I rather hope the author continues with the characters into high school.

[Emily Deibert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Peachtree for the ARC!

THE TROUBLE WITH ROBOTS is a fun, heartwarming MG debut about friendship, acceptance, teamwork, and robotics.

Eighth-graders Evelyn and Allie couldn’t be more unalike, but for different reasons both girls find themselves members of their middle school’s dysfunctional robotics team. Although the girls initially get off to a rocky start, they soon grow to develop a really sweet friendship and help each other through difficult personal situations.

I related so much to both girls’ stories, and I loved that we got to see them both through the dual POV. A highlight for me was the way that both were portrayed as realistically flawed in ways I don’t often see in MG novels: Evelyn was dealing with being overly controlling at times, while Allie was working through very difficult anger issues stemming from her grief. I loved how everyone’s unique strengths and personalities ended up contributing to both their personal development and the development of the team. There was one really sweet scene in particular where Evelyn helps Allie work through some of her grief.

Also, there was so much LGBTQ+ rep! Evelyn has two moms and casually mentions that she’s interested in both girls and boys throughout the novel. There’s also aro/ace rep, various queer couples, and a minor character who uses they/them pronouns. The disability rep was great too, including not just Evelyn (who’s autistic) but also a side character with cerebral palsy. It was also great to see more eighth-grade protagonists in MG!

Overall, this was a heartwarming, empowering, inclusive read, and I look forward to seeing more from the author in the future.

[Connie Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Trouble with Robots is a middle grade fiction book that is written by Michelle Mohrweis. I read this book with my 9 and 11 year old sons. We enjoyed this story. It inspired my 11 year old to want to check out robotics when they open clubs up this year.



This book is well written. Each chapter switches back and forth between our two main characters. Evelyn and Allie. They are both very different. Evelyn is a perfectionist. She seemed to nit pick everything because of this. Allie is new at the school and she has some tough things going on in her life.



Allie lives with her Oma. She has had a hard time adjusting to her new school and seemed to always be in trouble. She has been kicked out of several elective classes due to some of her issues. She is then placed in the robotic class. This is not something she’s thrilled with but she knows she’s running out of chances.



Evelyn is frustrated that her team got her disqualified from a match. She had a lot of issues with the robot and couldn’t believe they were disqualified. My boys noted that she was bossy and wouldn’t want to work with her if she was their team captain.



These two personalities have to learn teamwork. They both learn some valuable lessons in the book. We enjoyed seeing their characters evolve through the story. We liked how the author switched back and forth with their point of views.



This is a good middle grade fiction book. The boys and I are enjoyed it. Thank you for the author and publisher and Rockstar Book Tours for allowing me to read a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

[Nathalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This middle grade book was quite an enjoyable read. I know nothing of robots but it was interesting reading about it from the two POV's of our MC's.

The side characters were rich and added so much to the stories. Same for the background of our lead characters. Life has thrown quite some challenges at them and it's quite interesting to see how they deal with it.

An ARC was provided via Netgalley in return of an honest review.

[Seb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a super sweet middle grade novel with loads of queer representation

[Marlowe North · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so cute! I don’t read a lot of middle grade, but The Trouble With Robots was so perfect.

Middle-grade stories centring autistic characters are rare enough, let alone autistic bi girls with anxiety. Evelyn was a delight to read, and her experiences with group projects were… extremely similar to my own experiences aged about 13. Group projects are really not made for autistic people.

Allie, the other PoV character, was wonderful too. An aroace girl dealing with grief and frustration was the perfect person to complete the duo.

I loved the rest of the team, and the other disabilities shown: DJ’s cerebral palsy leg brace, and Ms Hawk’s hearing aids.

This book was a delight, and the story was so good. It made me want to start robotics!

[Sylvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Trouble with Robots has all the elements of an outstanding middle grade novel: an exciting school competition (with robots!), unlikely allies who turn out to be true friends, autistic and LGBT+ representation, and two main characters fall in love with and root for. Evelyn is a perfectionist who struggles to give up control, and Allie is an angry girl who can't stay out of trouble. When the two are thrown together in robotics club, they challenge and learn from each other and become friends, while navigating the excitement and ups and downs of robotics tournaments. A great read!

[The Page Ladies Book Club · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really wish there were books like this when I was younger or even when my oldest was younger. It's perfect for kids of many ages. We all had issues feeling like we didn't fit in or with finding friends, real friends. It brings up many topics that kids deal with. It's a great book for kids of many ages. I'm excited to see what else this author is going to write. Thank you Rockstar Book Tours and Michelle Mohrweis for sharing this book with me!

[Kristīne Vītola]

Ace MC https://lainahastoomuchsparetime.word...

[LukaReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great book, loved the aro/ace rep
And the bi rep and mlm rep, amazing, the development of the team was great