Nick and Tesla’s Robot Army Rampage: A Mystery with Hoverbots, Bristle Bots, and Other Robots You Can Build Yourself

When Nick and Tesla were sent to live with their Uncle Newt, an inventor from the quiet town of Half Moon Bay, they never expected to end up as the town’s junior crime-solvers. But their friend Silas’s family gets robbed, and that’s just the beginning. As small promotional robots begin turning up all over town, Nick and Tesla race to catch the thief and save Silas’s family’s store. But what role will those strange robots play in their investigation? And what tricks will Nick and Tesla have to whip up to combat them?

Nick and Tesla’s Robot Army Rampage is a lot of fun, offering an amiable brother-and-sister invention and crime-solving team and a storyline that never dumbs itself down for young readers. Older readers will figure out the mystery pretty quick, but the charming cast of characters still makes for an enjoyable read.

The authors also include instructions for small robots that intrepid readers (and their parents) can try out themselves. Getting to take Nick and Tesla’s creations into the real world is a brilliant hook, one that I hope will spark a greater interest in science for the younger readers out there.