Ten-year-old Keiya Coley joins the robotics club ready to be good at it — and for the first time in her life, she's behind. Robots Don't Quit is about the gap between where you are and where you want to be, and a family that decides that gap is worth crossing together.
Also in paperback ($9.99) · Free with Kindle Unlimited
130 pages · Middle-grade chapter book · by Perry Kendrick
When a bright yellow flyer for the after-school robotics club catches Keiya's eye, she does what she always does: she signs up, she researches, and she shows up ready.
She is not ready. Her robot veers into table legs. The instructions make no sense. The girl next to her, Priya, has already added sensors the assignment doesn't even require. And on Demo Day, in front of the principal and every parent in the room, Keiya's robot drives straight into a wall and falls off the table.
She almost quits.
But the Coley house is full of people who don't.
Notebook-first, analytical, impatient. Treats everything as data — until the data says she's losing.
Already learning to carry things no kid should have to carry, and finding a way to turn the weight of it into music.
Fierce and louder than ever. When a classmate calls her braids old-fashioned, she shows up Monday with the biggest beads in the box.
They love their kids the way they love everything: specifically, patiently, and without flinching.
No email, no signup. See if it's the right fit for your reader before you buy.
Keiya doesn't win by the end of chapter three. She struggles, wants to quit, and learns that quitting is a choice — the lesson kids actually need.
Three Black siblings, two working parents, and a Friday dinner table where the real conversations happen. Slice-of-life, not fantasy.
Sensors, code, Demo Day disasters, and a best friend who's three steps ahead. Great for kids who build things — or kids who don't think they can.
Keiya's robotics, Robert's music, Kayla's courage. Readers of different ages find someone to root for.
For readers who loved New Kid, Front Desk and The Crossover.
Books 2–5 are getting a second-edition revision and return to Amazon one at a time. Join the list below and we'll email you the day each one is available.
It learns what stopped it. And then it tries again.
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Keiya finally has a real robotics friend. Some problems don't need solving — they need you there.
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Months of training, one competition. A story about what failure leaves behind.
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A family-history project turns into something Keiya can't measure.
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A team of five, and one teammate Keiya didn't choose. Showing up is the hard part.
Notify me →Books 2–5 return one at a time. One short email per release — nothing else.
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We'll email you the day the next Coley Kids book is back on Amazon.
Ages 8–12. They are middle-grade chapter books — Book 1 is about 130 pages — and work as independent reading or as a read-aloud.
They are getting a second-edition revision and come back to Amazon one at a time. Join the list on this page and we will email you the day each one is available.
Start with Book 1. Each book is a complete story, but the family's threads carry forward from book to book.
Yes, the Kindle edition of Robots Don't Quit is available on Kindle Unlimited. It is also sold as a Kindle ebook and a paperback.
Start with Chapter 1 free, or grab the whole book tonight.