When Suman’s grandmother, Ajee, becomes sick, all Suman can think about is the upcoming rainy season in his home country of Nepal. What if the rains are so heavy, they flood the river and cut off access to medical help?

Suman is relieved when he hears that his village is thinking about building a special kind of bridge called a TarPul. He befriends a geotechnical engineer, who teaches him the importance of choosing a good location for the TarPul. A poorly sited TarPul would be unstable and unsafe. When Suman’s father disagrees with the geotechnical engineer about the location for the bridge, Suman realizes he has to convince his father to change his mind—for the sake of the village and for Ajee.

Readers are invited to create their own model TarPul and test different types of soil to figure out where it should be built. With some creativity and knowledge of the engineering design process, everyone can engineer!