A potato chip lover, Aisha begs her older brother Malcolm to bring her to the potato chip factory where he is an industrial engineer. Malcolm agrees to take her, but only if she and her cousin Tanya complete their summer project for school. Taking them on a fun-filled simple machines scavenger hunt through Boston, Massachusetts, Malcolm helps with their school project and prepares them for their trip to the factory. By visiting the potato chip factory, the girls learn how simple machines and the design of industrial systems make work safer for laborers. The trip inspires the girls to create a simple machine system of their own.

Ten fun, accessible hands-on activities teach readers how to make simple machines using STEM concepts.

Build, create, invent, and discover 28 awesome experiments and activities with Maker Lab. Created in association with the Smithsonian Institution and supporting STEAM education initiatives, Maker Lab has 28 kid-safe projects and crafts that will get young inventors' wheels turning and make science pure fun. Explaining science through photographs and facts that carefully detail the "why" and "how" of each experiment using real-world examples to provide context, each activity is appropriate for kids ages 8-12 years old and ranked easy, medium, or hard, with an estimated time frame for completion. Requiring only household materials, young makers can build an exploding volcano, make bath fizzies, construct a solar system, make an eggshell geode, and more. With a foreword by Jack Andraka, a teen award-winning inventor, Maker Lab will help kids find their inner inventor to impress friends, family, and teachers and create winning projects for science fairs and school projects.