Mark Rober has spent years proving that science and engineering don’t have to feel like homework. His enormously popular videos turn subjects such as physics, robotics, and mechanical engineering into spectacular challenges, ingenious pranks, and machines that kids immediately want to understand.
CrunchLabs has carried that approach into the physical world with its Build Box subscriptions. Now Rober is taking it in another direction: children’s fiction.
The first three books in the new CrunchLabs Mysteries series are Toy Store Trouble, The Arcade Thief, and The Stolen Bike. Each is a hardcover, heavily illustrated mystery starring a fictionalized 12-year-old Mark Rober. The stories are intended for children reading at roughly a third-grade level or above, making the likely sweet spot elementary-school students in grades three through six.
That age range makes sense. Younger readers are often ready for more substantial stories but may still be intimidated by long pages of uninterrupted text. Mysteries supply a natural reason to keep turning pages, while the illustrations and familiar CrunchLabs sensibility make the books feel more approachable than a conventional science lesson.
The premise also gives Rober an ideal childhood alter ego. Twelve-year-old Mark does not solve problems through superpowers or improbable luck. He observes, experiments, builds, and uses engineering principles to figure out what happened. The science is not pasted onto an unrelated adventure; it becomes part of the way the hero thinks.
That may be the most important idea behind the series. Children are frequently taught science as a collection of facts with correct answers. Engineering begins with a different question: How can I use what I know to solve this problem?
Rober’s videos and Build Boxes have always emphasized that process, including the trial, error, and occasional failure that come with making something work. The mysteries now extend that approach to reading and storytelling.
Each book continues beyond the final chapter with a hands-on STEM project connected to the story, along with access to a new video featuring the real Rober. Instead of finishing the mystery and immediately putting it back on the shelf, young readers are invited to test one of its ideas for themselves.
I have seen how effective that formula can be.
I gave one of my granddaughters a CrunchLabs Build Box subscription for two years and built several of the projects with her. The kits were thoughtfully designed, interesting to assemble, and grounded in real engineering concepts. They offered enough challenge to make finishing them satisfying without becoming so difficult that an adult had to take over.
Just as important, the explanation was not an afterthought. A project might produce a catapult, launcher, or mechanical toy, but the real goal was understanding why it worked. Building together created opportunities to talk about force, motion, leverage, stored energy, and design choices without the experience ever feeling like a lecture.
The books appear to apply the same model to reading. A child first encounters an engineering idea through characters and a mystery, then gets an opportunity to build or perform an experiment related to it.
That sequence could be especially effective for reluctant readers who love making things, as well as enthusiastic readers who have not yet discovered an interest in engineering. A child who might resist a conventional science book could be drawn into one of these stories by the mystery, the illustrations, or simply by already knowing Rober from YouTube.
It is also a clever expansion of the CrunchLabs universe. YouTube videos can create excitement, and Build Boxes can turn that excitement into action. The mystery series adds another piece by encouraging kids to read, reason through clues, and imagine themselves as problem-solvers. It connects storytelling, video, and hands-on construction rather than treating them as separate activities.
CrunchLabs says the first series will eventually contain 12 books. The larger series is being offered as a monthly add-on for existing CrunchLabs subscribers, but the first three books are also available together as a special bundle.
For a limited time, Toy Store Trouble, The Arcade Thief, and The Stolen Bike are being sold together for $39.95, including free U.S. shipping. The bundle is currently available only in the United States.
No book series, video channel, or subscription box is going to transform every child into an engineer. That is not really the point. The more realistic—and arguably more valuable—goal is to make science feel accessible, creative, and fun before children decide that it is difficult or “not for them.”
These three books look designed to do exactly that. They take the curiosity already generated by Mark Rober’s YouTube videos and CrunchLabs Build Boxes and place it inside stories children can enjoy on their own.
Then, in classic CrunchLabs fashion, they ask readers to stop watching, stop reading, and start building.