Maya and the Robot

What a charming middle-grade book!

I stumbled upon Maya and the Robot completely by accident. I was looking for something by Maya Angelou, and this one showed up. It looked interesting, so I picked it up–and thoroughly enjoyed it!

Maya and the Robot begins slowly. When I started reading it, I wondered if it would be a predictable story about a genius girl who finds a friend in a robot she creates because her best friends are now in another class.
It is, and it isn’t.
For one, the story becomes far more believable because Maya doesn’t create the robot from scratch all by herself. Instead, she finds one designed by an engineer at Stanford and tweaks it based on notes she finds, as well as research. For another, the story has many more layers, making it a satisfying, endearing tale.

The robot Ralph drives the story. Through him, we get to know all the others, from Christopher who designed him, to Maya, who finds him and gives him a new lease of life. With him, we explore what it means to be human, and what a robot can be taught about giving and receiving love. A story about forging new relationships and rekindling old ones, Maya and the Robot is perfect for middle-graders looking for a book about the challenges of school and all the changes that come with growing up.