House of Robots

The first book in the House of Robots series follows Sammy Hayes-Rodriguez, a fifth grader at Creekside Elementary in South Bend, Indiana, whose inventor mother forces him to bring her latest creation, a robot named E, to school and pretend E is his brother.

Sammy lives in an unusual household. His mother, Professor Elizabeth Hayes, teaches computer science at the University of Notre Dame and has filled their home with dozens of robots that handle domestic tasks. His father, Noah Rodriguez, is a manga artist who publishes under the pen name Sasha Nee. Both parents are affectionate and eccentric, even playing in a terrible rock band called Almost Pretty Bad with Sammy's principal. Over breakfast, Sammy discusses his predicament with his younger sister, Maddie, his closest friend. Mom calls the experiment her most important ever but refuses to explain why.

E's first day is a catastrophe. At the bus stop, the five-foot-tall robot with glowing blue LED eyes embarrasses Sammy by reciting bus-safety rules. Classmate Jackson Rehder coins the nickname "bro-bot," and the teasing follows Sammy into school, where his chief bully, Cooper Elliot, mocks him as "Dweebiac." E interrupts every lesson with unsolicited factoids, lifts the gym teacher during phys ed, triggers a cafeteria food fight by launching Tater Tots, and overloads his circuits during science, shooting sparks that ignite the recycling bin and bring the fire department. The adults agree E is not yet ready for school. On the ride home, E seems deflated, and Sammy feels guilty. He advises E to lighten up and act less "robot-ish." At home, Mom powers E down and has him carried to her workshop. Sammy notices a mysterious black SUV at the end of their driveway; it drives away when E is taken inside.

Sammy's second-best friend is Harry Hunter Hudson, called "Trip," a clumsy but loyal kid inseparable from Sammy since they were in diapers. They share permanent seats at the cafeteria's losers' table and a long history of being mocked by Cooper. Sammy also reveals that Maddie has SCID, or severe combined immunodeficiency, a condition that leaves her body unable to fight infections. She rarely leaves her sterilized bedroom, receives intravenous antibody treatments monthly, and is homeschooled by a tutor-robot. Despite this, Maddie is relentlessly cheerful, dismissing her challenges as "no biggie." Sammy visits her daily to share every detail of his school life.

Mom rebuilds E in her workshop. She tells Sammy she cannot reveal the experiment's purpose, but warns that if E fails, the consequences will be "devastating." That week, Maddie has a respiratory crisis with a fever of 105 degrees. Paramedics rush her to St. Joseph's hospital while Sammy stays home with his babysitter, Mrs. Stein. He notices the black SUV outside again. Late that night, Sammy finds Mom crying in her workshop. They share a heartfelt conversation about Maddie, and Sammy suggests that maybe a super-smart robot could someday help cure SCID. Mom calls him "pretty awesome."

When Mom finishes rebuilding E with new eyebrows and improved conversational abilities, Sammy refuses to escort him, so Mom agrees E will go to school alone. On Monday, E rides a custom BMX bike alongside Sammy, performing stunts that draw cheers from every student on the bus. At school, Jenny Myers, Sammy's crush, gushes over E, and Trip claims Sammy taught E all his tricks. E's second attempt is far better: He coaches struggling classmates, cracks jokes, and creates an impressive art project. During gym, E privately coaches Sammy before dodgeball, and Sammy nails Cooper with the ball for the first time while Jenny watches. After school, E acknowledges how difficult the situation is and offers to help or back off entirely. Sammy tells E that not being perfect makes him even better, and the two begin to bond.

As days pass, Sammy's cafeteria table becomes the cool table. Trip, however, feels displaced and begins sitting alone, calling himself Sammy's "XSBFF," or Ex-Second-Best Friend Forever. When Trip brings a cheap toy robot to school and it fires a peanut-butter-smeared banana slice at Cooper's face, Sammy and E text Mom, who arrives with her graduate assistants and helps them pretend Trip's toy is a classified military project. Trip is treated as a hero, and the friendship is restored.

At a science assembly, Cooper secretly slings a binder clip at the demonstration table, igniting a fire that spreads to E's hands. Trip smothers the flames with a balloon filled with carbon monoxide from a baking-soda-and-vinegar reaction, and Cooper is suspended for three days. When he returns, Cooper corners Sammy on the playground, but E arrives silently and bluffs that his blue eyes double as freeze-ray guns. Cooper flees. Sammy notices the black SUV at the curb; E claims to have scanned its plates and insists it poses no threat, but Sammy suspects E is not being truthful.

The next day, E vanishes after school. Mom and Principal Reyes conclude he has been "robo-napped." Without E, Cooper resumes bullying Trip, and Sammy struggles to fill E's protective role. Principal Reyes holds an assembly urging students to "Be Like E." One morning, Sammy discovers three boxes on the porch containing E's dismembered parts; the doorbell-bot had been disabled with a paper bag. Sammy organizes a robot detective effort: A scent analyzer detects peanut butter, banana, and other ingredients on the bag, matching a sandwich Cooper had recently smashed. Sammy, Trip, and Dad trace the black SUV to a parking garage, but the occupants turn out to be Mom's grad students, who had been monitoring E's school performance as part of the experiment. E had known about the surveillance, explaining why he told Sammy the vehicle was harmless. At school, Sammy brings a household robot named Hayseed, who tricks Cooper into confessing he acted on instructions from his older brothers, Johnny and Trevor Elliot. A built-in recorder captures the confession, and police arrive. Cooper is suspended for a month.

Mom spends a weekend performing what she calls brain surgery on E's main circuit board, warning the family the operation could erase his memory entirely. On Monday, she emerges with E, who pretends to malfunction before revealing he was joking. He is fully restored.

Mom then reveals the experiment's true purpose: E was built for Maddie. Because Maddie cannot attend school due to SCID, E's HD-camera eyes, designed to match Maddie's blue eyes, and audio components allow her to experience school remotely from her sterilized bedroom. Mom kept the secret because Maddie did not want to be the center of attention. Sammy now understands why his mother warned that failure would be devastating.

E begins attending a third-grade classroom as Maddie's surrogate. For the first time, Maddie meets her teacher and classmates, participating in discussions and problem-solving from home. The family throws a celebration with sopaipillas, a traditional fried pastry. Trip and his mother attend, the parents' band plays, and Maddie joins remotely through E. Sammy reflects that he has made many new friends, including Jenny, while Trip remains his permanent second-best friend. He acknowledges his family is unusual but declares he would not have it any other way, concluding that E is the coolest robot of all because E is his bro-bot.