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miloblue's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
anniekslibrary's review against another edition
4.0
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.
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.
rachelkay1821's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
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!
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!
bbdani's review against another edition
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
zoya_nazyalensky's review against another edition
4.5
*thanks to metgalley for providing me with this book in exchange for an honest review*
This was such a sweet book. I love how the characters' behaviour changed with time and how we could see what made that happen.
This was such a sweet book. I love how the characters' behaviour changed with time and how we could see what made that happen.
halfwaytoaugust's review
5.0
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.
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.
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