Looking for an exciting adventure that will inspire kids to try robotics and coding? Check out Jinxed and its sequel Unleashed, by Amy McCulloch.
In this near-future world, cell phones have been made obsolete by robotic pets called baku who are part companion, part communication device. The main character, Lacey Chu, is a robotics whiz who’s finally about to go to her dream school, Profectus Academy, where she’ll learn all the skills she’ll need to design baku herself someday. Her best friend Zora is a master at coding. A chance mistake leads Lacey to discover the burned-out hull of a cat baku on a forested hillside. She spends the rest of the summer fixing up the cat, her new companion Jinx. At school, Lacey joins a baku battle team. Her captain Tobias quickly recognizes that her robotics skills have a good chance at taking them to the championship. But Lacey soon gets into trouble since Jinx has a mind of his own, and as time goes on she finds he isn’t just a normal baku either. She needs to understand Jinx’s origin – and how it’s entangled with her own family – in time to break up a plot that’s going to impact the well-being of the whole world.
These two books make up a fun, exciting children’s story featuring diverse characters participating in STEM. Robotics and coding are part of the excitement in this adventure. All of the students dream of having careers in these fields. The characters have a great balance of both gender and racial diversity. And it’s all wrapped up in a story that both adults and children are not going to want to put down. The content is wholesome enough for kids of any age, but the perfect audience is about 8-13. Beware, Jinxed ends in a cliff-hanger – you’re definitely going to want to proceed to the sequel, Unleashed, as soon as you finish it!
Find Jinxed on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1728216370/.
The sequel, Unleashed, is at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1728239125/.
For reviews of other children’s books featuring diversity in technology and engineering, see STEM Area: Technology and STEM Area: Engineering.
For reviews of other children’s books featuring gender and racial diversity in STEM, see Diversity Type: Gender and Diversity Type: Race.
For reviews of other books that are great for the 9-12 age range, see Age Group: 9-12.
Also see our full STEM listings of books and other resources that feature diversity in STEM.
