48 pages • 1 hour read
Eve L. Ewing, Illustr. Christine AlmedaMaya and the Robot
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 14-17Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 14 Summary: “Christopher’s Gift”
Maya stands outside of Mr. Mac’s store for Christopher’s memorial service with her parents and many members of the community. She feels uncomfortable and is unsure what she is supposed to do, but her dad tells her that her and Ralph just being there will mean a lot to Mr. Mac. Once everyone has arrived, Terrance—the young man who was at the store when she found Ralph—steps forward to speak. He was Christopher’s best friend, and his speech explains that on this day 10 years ago, Christopher was shot and killed walking out of his father’s store. He laments the prevalence of gun violence and the loss of the 12,000 people killed by gun violence. He also talks about how smart and kind Christopher was, and how he used his skills to make the world a better place. When he is done, he invites Mr. Mac to speak.
Mr. Mac thanks everyone for coming to help him remember his son and then begins to speak from the heart. He explains that for a long time, he didn’t want anyone to even mention Christopher to him because the reminder of his absence was too painful. However, this changed recently when he realized that Christopher’s spirit was still with them all. He talks emotionally about how Christopher struggled with being different but eventually learned to embrace who he was and use his gifts to help people—something evident in the types of robots he designed. Throughout his speech, Mr. Mac frequently looks at Maya. He ends by saying that Christopher would be so happy to see that his dream of building robots to help people is still alive. When he is done, Mr. Mac approaches Maya and thanks her for bringing his son back to him. Ralph, who has been standing beside Maya throughout the memorial, seems to understand everyone’s sadness. He extends his arms towards Mr. Mac and embraces him, explaining that Christopher taught him how to hug.
Chapter 15 Summary: “Practice Makes Perfect”
Maya is dreaming about working in a state-of-the-art laboratory when she is woken up by her mom. It’s Science Fair Day, and Ralph helps her get everything ready for school. Maya’s mom has also agreed to allow her to take Ralph to school for the first time since he'll be less of a distraction with all the science fair stuff going on, and he will be able to help her set up her project. Her project is a model volcano that is connected to a heart rate monitor. Her idea is to investigate the relationship between stress and physical reactions, so she will ask students a series of increasingly difficult math questions, and as their stress level increases, the volcano will begin to spill over and erupt.
When she arrives at school, the cafeteria is bustling with students setting up their projects. Every student in grades 5, 6, 7 and 8 is there, and Maya begins to feel anxious. Ralph plays her voice recordings from her mom and dad to help calm her down, and she practices her routine one last time while she waits for the science fair to start. As she practices, Zoe Winters approaches her and is much friendlier than usual. She asks about Ralph, and assumes it is Maya’s science fair project. She offers to watch over Ralph while Maya goes to get a drink of water, as this will help her relax a little. Maya is a little suspicious about why Zoe is suddenly being nice but decides not to question it and leaves to get a drink.
The science fair soon starts, and the judges begin examining the different projects. Maya has difficulty being heard by the judges because there is a boy beside her presenting his project that involves a very loud electric guitar. One of her judges also appears distracted and admits that he is having a hard time focusing because he is hungry. The other judge offers him a granola bar and jokes about not wanting to start a food fight. Ralph hears the comment and responds despite the fact his voice command was not used. He reaches for the granola bar as Maya says, “oh no” (161).
Chapter 16 Summary: “Reset Button”
Maya and Ralph sit in the principal's office after the science fair food fight. Principal Merriweather rants about how much trouble they’ve caused and how much money it is going to cost the school’s budget. Maya is unable to talk because she is so close to tears. She finally breaks her silence to defend Ralph after Principal Merriweather starts threatening to warn Maya’s parents that he is dangerous. However, Maya is unable to explain why Ralph lost control, so Principal Merriweather begins to dial the phone.
Before she can complete the call, they’re interrupted by Jada, MJ, Ms. Montogomery, and Elijah bursting into the office. Jada exclaims that the food fight was not Maya’s fault, and Elijah nervously explains that he saw Zoe opening Ralph’s back and messing around with stuff inside him. Maya realizes that this is why Zoe was pretending to be nice to her and had suggested she go get a drink, and Principal Merriweather sends for Zoe. Maya also realizes what went wrong with Ralph and explains that normally he requires a voice command keyword. She notices a bunch of scratch marks on Ralph’s back and confirms that he was reset—which would deactivate his voice command keyword—just before the start of the science fair.
Zoe arrives in the principal’s office and makes a feeble attempt to defend herself. Once she realizes her lies are not working, she admits that she did it because she thought Maya was cool and smart and wanted to be her friend but always felt Maya was ignoring her. Maya is stunned by the revelation but admits that she struggles with friend stuff, especially with new people. Maya reactivates Ralph’s voice command keyword and has Ralph apologize for the trouble he caused, even if it wasn’t entirely his fault. On the way out of Principal Merriweather’s office, she tells Zoe it is going to be okay, but worries that she has no science fair project now that hers was destroyed in the food fight.
Chapter 17 Summary: “A Real Scientist”
Maya heads back to the cafeteria with Jada, MJ, and Elijah. It is still a huge mess, but things have gotten back to normal, and the science fair is continuing. Jada and MJ offer to help Maya clean up the food debris at her station and Elijah heads back to his own project, but the four of them agree to hang out sometime soon.
As they clean up, Maya thanks Jada and MJ for getting her back. They ask why she didn’t tell them about Ralph, and Maya explains that because she is not in their class, things have just felt different. She becomes overwhelmed with emotion as she tells them that she has felt left out and distanced from them, and that she has struggled to make new friends. Jada comforts her and assures her they will always be friends, regardless of whose class they’re in or any other changes that occur. MJ even reveals that they assumed she was too busy for them since she had stopped talking to them, too.
MJ suggests that his dad could fix the scratches on Ralph’s back in his auto shop, and they agree to hang out on the weekend so that Maya can tell them everything about Ralph. They also suggest that Maya should invite Elijah. While they continue to clean, a first grade girl wearing a NASA t-shirt approaches Maya and asks her about her science project, the robot. Maya begins to say that Ralph isn’t her science project, but MJ and Jada convince her to run with it. She begins to talk about Ralph, initially feeling nervous since she hadn’t prepared a presentation, but grows in confidence quickly. More people begin to gather around and soon she is talking to a large audience. She realizes that she can just talk because she is knowledgeable and passionate about Ralph, and she is just sharing things she has learned. When she finishes, the crowd applauds, and Maya realizes that Ms. Rodriguez has been there listening as well. She apologizes for not getting Maya’s name correctly and informs her that she is going to count Ralph as her science fair project since it is clear that she did a lot of independent research, used trial and error, and pursued her curiosity. Once the crowd has dissipated, the first grade girl is still there and asks Maya her name and if she is a real scientist. She responds by saying, “My name is Maya Robinson. And yes, I am a real scientist” (183).
Chapters 14-17 Analysis
Mr. Mac is the central pillar of the community, and nearly every scene he is in throughout the novel depicts him trying to help somebody with something. Just how much he means to the community becomes evident during Christopher’s memorial. Every character introduced in his store shows up to support him, and Mr. Mac’s speech makes it clear why he has taken such an interest in Maya. She is so much like Christopher—from her insatiable curiosity and her kind heart to the problems she is facing at school—that she has forced him to confront memories he has tried to repress. Helping Maya and seeing her flourish has made him realize that the memories of his son don’t have to be painful. Maya has returned the favor by continuing Christopher’s mission and reconnecting him with the memory of his lost son. The presence of Ralph at the funeral, and particularly the hug he gives Mr. Mac at the end of the memorial (a function that Christopher specifically programmed) physically symbolizes this reconnection and the idea that Christopher’s spirit lives on. While Maya struggles to understand how she should act or feel at the memorial, the one lesson she takes—and one that is reiterated by her mom—is that “being [herself] is a gift to others around [her]” (147).
Going into the science fair, Maya is anxious because in her mind, the science fair is a shot at scientific legitimacy. It is a chance to show everyone her passion, knowledge, and abilities, and even though she single-handedly got a robot working again and has been complimented by a world-renowned scientist in Dr. Yazzie, Maya still wants the validation of her peers. However, what makes Maya finally feel like “a real scientist” (183), is ultimately not earning the approval of her peers (which she does receive). Instead, it is the realization that all she needs to do is be herself. As she talks about the research, problem solving, and science she dedicated her time to in order to get Ralph up and running, she feels more confident and self-assured than she has all school year. Tellingly, “it [doesn’t] even feel like [she] was making a presentation” (181), which is figuratively significant. She is talking about things she is passionate about and understands, and more broadly, the fact that it doesn’t feel like a presentation signifies that all the artifice is gone—she is finally comfortable just being herself.
Fittingly, Maya’s confident display of ingenuity and passion inspires a young girl to stick around after the presentation is done to ask her questions, bringing The Joys of Scientific Discovery full circle. By having Maya become a role model for another young aspiring scientist—in much the same way she looked up to Christopher and Dr. Yazzie—the novel once again demonstrates why representation is important in S.T.E.M. fields: it has the potential to become cyclical and ensure each new generation empowers the next.
