WELCOME TO THE 7TH ANNUAL
With a little heart, you can fix anything.
Mimi Perez fixes things. Phones, tablets, speakers, printers. She gets it from her dad—helping him at the family e-repair shop was always one of Mimi’s favorite things to do. But ever since Papi was deported, there’s a lot more than electronics that need fixing in Mimi’s world. Things too big for any twelve-year-old to handle on her own.
Mimi hustles around her Brooklyn neighborhood trying to earn enough money to finally fix her family. There’s no time for school or friends, but Mimi knows it will all be worth it the day Papi comes home. Then her ex-friends approach her with a proposition: enter a robotics competition with them, and they could win $50,000. It could be her chance.
Not part of the plan? A mysterious robot crashing to earth. From space.
The robot is scared, alone, and broken, and federal agents are after her. Mimi does what any street-smart electronics repair person would do: she takes the robot home, fixes her up, and in the process, makes herself a friend.
Suddenly, Mimi is anything but alone. She’s part of a robotics team. She’s sheltering a robot. She’s dodging federal agents. And keeping all of it a secret from her mom.
Join a girl and a robot on their life-changing sci-fi adventure in this coming-of-age story that celebrates kids in STEM, first-gen communities, and the power of friendship.
Emmy-winning director Oz Rodriguez has written and directed video shorts since he got his start at Funny or Die. As a creative force in the sketch comedy world, Oz worked his way up to segment director and producer at SNL and has been with the show for nearly a decade. Oz turned his knowledge of SNL into a popular behind-the-scenes nonfiction series called Creating Saturday Night Live.
Over the years, Oz has worked on more than 50 episodes of SNL and directed the Emmy®-winning show Creating Saturday Night Live, which documents the making of America’s most iconic sketch comedy TV series. Rodriguez’s work has earned multiple major industry honors. He won a Primetime Emmy Award in 2019 for Creating Saturday Night Live in the category of Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction or Reality Series. He was also nominated for Primetime Emmys in 2017 and 2018 for his work on the same series, recognized in both the Short Form Nonfiction and Short Form Variety categories. In 2025, he was nominated for a Gotham TV Award for Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music, in the category of Outstanding Original Film, Broadcast, or Streaming. Earlier in his career, Rodriguez received an ALMA Award nomination in 2011 for Outstanding Director of a Television Series for his work on Funny or Die Presents.
New York Times Bestselling and award-winning author Claribel A. Ortega is a former reporter who writes middle-grade and young adult fantasy inspired by her Dominican heritage. When she’s not busy turning her obsession with pop culture, magic, and video games into books, she’s co-hosting her podcast Bad Author Book Club. Claribel is a Marvel contributor and has been featured on Buzzfeed, Bustle, Good Morning America, and Deadline.
Claribel’s NYT Bestselling debut middle grade novel Ghost Squad is being made into a feature film. Witchlings (Scholastic) was an Instant NYT and #1 Indie Bestseller. Her graphic novel Frizzy with Rose Bousamra was winner of the 2023 Pura Belpré Award for Children’s Text and an Indie Bestseller. Her latest book Witchlings Scepter of Memories, the fourth installment in the Witchlings Series, releases September 16th 2025.
Show us your moves! Share your artwork! Tell us what book you liked best!
Upload below or tag us on social media.
#beautifublackbird
