"Layla and the Bots: Happy Paws" Inspired Reading list

We have had a fantastic start with our Budding Readers book club groups and we are so excited to keep that momentum going. Our second book for our young readers was, Happy Paws (Layla and the Bots, book 1), a fun graphic novel chapter book all about robots, rides, and dogs - what's not to love!

For our curated reading list inspired by the book we looked at themes of teamwork, friendship, and helping others. We also looked at the characters and activities in the story - books with robots, dogs, female leads, or anything related to STEM, coding, or inventions. Based on this criteria we have put together a short list of suggestions on what to read next:

Layla and the Bots: Built for Speed

by Vicky Fang, illustrations by Christine Nishiyama (Scholastic)

Layla and Bots are back in this adorable graphic novel series, this time sharing their need for speed.Together they help out a fellow racer by building a brand new go cart. An early chapter book line Scholastic's branches series.

How it relates: Book 2 in Layla and the Bot series

Rosie Revere, Engineer

by Andrea Beaty, illustrations by David Roberts (Abrams Books)

Rosie is an engineer who loves to build amazing, new inventions. But when her latest invention doesn't feel good enough to share, Rosie decides to quit all together, until her favourite aunt helps her see the importance of first tries.

How it relates: A female lead, engineering, and invention

Bark in the Park!: Poems for dog lovers

by Avery Corman, illustrations by Hyewon Yum (Orchard Books)

A clever collection of dog inspired poems, featuring a variety of dog breeds, dog owners, and life as dog owner.

How it relates: Dogs, dog park

How to Code a Rollercoaster

by Josh Funk, illustrations by Sara Palacios (Penguin Random House)

Pearl and Pascal, her trusty robot, are enjoying a fun day at the amusement park. Through the use of code, they keep track of their fun-filled day.

How it relates: Female lead, robot, friendship, coding, amusement parks

Boxitects

by Kim Smith (HarperCollins)

Meg is a boxitect, which means she loves to build things out of ordinary cardboard. But when a new boxitect joins Maker school, Meg must find a way to overcome her jealousy and learn to work together as a team.

How it relates: Female leads, inventing, building, team work

How to Make a Friend

by Stephen W. Martin, illustrations by Olivia Aserr (HarperCollins)

In this humorous and clever tale, a young girl follows step-by-step instructions to build a robot friend and quickly learns that sometimes a friendship doesn’t always turn out as you hope.

How it relates: Female inventers, building, robots, friendship

Made by Maxine

by Ruth Spiro, illustrations by Holly Hatam (Penguin Random House)

Maxine loves to build new things out of old things. Her class will be hosting a pet parade. Determined to showcase her pet fish in the parade, Maxine builds an epic invention to allow her pet to participate in the parade.

How it relates: Female lead, inventing, building, friendship

The Invention Hunters: Discover how machines work

by Korwin Briggs (Little Brown & Company)

A group of invention hunters travel the globe seeking and collecting the world's best inventions and explaining the science/mechanics behind each invention.

How it relates: Inventions

Racing Ace: Drive it! Fix it!

by Larry Dane Brimner, illustrations by Kaylani Juanita (Scholastic)

Ace is getting ready for her big race. She has built her own car, is greasing the wheels, and is ready to win! However, she discovers a missing car part in the middle of the race which might just keep her in last place.

How it relates: Female lead, problem solving, chapter book series