Ellie Ment and the Material Matter - Bertie Stephens - ★★★.¾
AUTHOR: Bertie Stephens
GENRE: Middle-grade Eco-Fiction.
PUBLICATION DATE: June 26, 2025.
RATING: 3.75 stars.
In a Nutshell: A middle-grade STEM adventure that combines science and fantasy and environmental awareness and humour. Interesting characters and a creative storyline. A bit too episodic and disjointed for my liking, but kids might enjoy the magical mayhem more. First of a series; minor cliffhanger ending.
Plot Preview:
Eleven-year-old Ellie Ment doesn’t believe in magic. As a self-proclaimed scientist, all her passion is for science. After all, it provides an explanation for everything. But when Ellie’s school burns down in a purple inferno and her favourite teacher hands her some strange wrist braces that conjure up the elements, Ellie struggles to search for an explanation. Determined to discover the truth using science, common sense, and logic, Ellie follows her teacher into a strange new club.
The story comes to us via an unknown omniscient narrator, who loves to add his own side notes to the proceedings.
For once, the blurb does its job well, revealing just as much as is essential without going into major spoilers. This intriguing line - “a STEM-based adventure where chemistry meets chaos, physics bends reality, and curiosity might just save the world” offers the perfect representation of the book.
Bookish Yays:
⚗️ Very few middle-grade books are written for geeky science nerds. This book comes as a pleasant, mentally-invigorating treat.
⚗️ Ellie Ment, whose name clearly indicates that she is born for science. I love that she isn't portrayed as the perfect girl. She’s brash and impulsive, she breaks rules, she doesn’t follow instructions. At the same time, she learns from her mistakes, is willing to speak up where required, and put in the efforts towards success. So she isn't exactly a role model in every way, but she has plenty to teach little readers.
⚗️ The friendship between Ellie and her bestie Michael is excellently written, with squabbles as well as patch-ups occurring regularly. Their connection feels true to life.
⚗️ Ellie and Michael are polar opposites in their skillset, with Michael having artistic prowess and Ellie having none of it, and Ellie being a science whiz while Michael barely scrapes by. It’s the perfect combo of art and science, with the book highlighting the importance of and the connection between both streams.
⚗️ The plot is a wonderfully intricate mash-up of factual and fantastical, just like science is. I love how it uses actual scientific content (with sufficient explanations) to keep the proceedings grounded in reality.
⚗️ Just because the book is all things science doesn’t mean that it is boring. There are plenty of funny scenes, thanks to Michael’s goof-ups and Ellie’s (mis)attempts at magic.
⚗️ The story contains many important life lessons that go much beyond science and environmental awareness. My favourite two are “Smart can come in various forms” and “There's always an explanation.” I also appreciate that it shows how children can also make a difference in macro issues, but even adults can lend a hand in their dreams (even if not all adults are trustworthy.)
Bookish Mixed Bags:
🧪 As is common with many debut novels, this book is overloaded with themes. Granted, all the environmental themes – littering, pesticides, plastic waste, danger of microplastics, industry malpractices, and many more – are important and relevant to the core idea of saving the environment. But a part of me thinks that it should have stuck to 1-2 environmental issues, as kids might miss out on a few of the urgent issues in the plethora of information thrown their way. This is anyway planned as a series, so the other issues could have been brought up in subsequent books.
🧪 Further to the above, the book is overloaded with scientific terms and facts. This could go either way. I love that the book contains fundamental chemical concepts such as elements, compounds, and reactions and even integrates these properly into the narrative. But their regular appearance might end up alienating some kids who are not too fond of chemistry or zone out at science-y terms.
🧪 The story is somewhat episodic, with the initial burning-school incident almost forgotten till the final chapters. Kids are probably more attuned to such storytelling, but adult me struggled to stay focussed on the slightly jumpy plot flow, especially when there is minimal connection between each “episode”.
🧪 The omniscient narrator is quite fun, often breaking the fourth wall, foreshadowing some events, and adding side notes in parentheses to explain some of the trickier science. He also offers quirky add-on advice such as lessons on how to argue better! 😄 However, it takes some time to get used to the narrator’s regular interruption, especially at the very start when there are too many irrelevant intrusions in between Ellie’s story.
Bookish Nays:
💥 Though the main mystery is mostly revealed, the book ends on a cliffhanger. Might not be a Nay to many, but I prefer closed endings.
All in all, this is a smart book, with its creative way of linking real-world environmental issues into a fictional world where science feels almost like magic. It offers scientific learning, environmental awareness, and inspiration for activism in a humorous and adventurous package. I hope kids also see the imaginativeness of the story and don’t get bogged down by the many scientific terms.
Recommended to STEM-loving middle-graders as kids with a scientific bent of mind will appreciate this book a lot more.
My thanks to Palamedes PR, Clean Planet Foundation, and author Bertie Stephens for a complimentary digital ARC of 'Ellie Ment and the Material Matter' via Hygge Book Tours, and for allowing me to be a part of this blog tour. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
The digital version of this book is currently available on Kindle Unlimited.
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Blurb:
Ellie doesn’t believe in magic, she believes in science.
But science is magic!
Science explains everything, right? But when Ellie’s school burns down in roaring purple flames (wait, what?), her favorite teacher hands her wrist bracers that summon the elements (Bracers…Nitrogen!), and she’s invited to join a secret society of the smartest minds on Earth (yikes!), suddenly not everything has an explanation after all!
Driven by logic, unshakeable stubbornness, and an unreasonable number of jam jars, Ellie is determined to prove that science can explain everything – no matter how strange things get. But can she?
Ellie Ment and the Material Matter is a STEM-based adventure where chemistry meets chaos, physics bends reality, and curiosity might just save the world.
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Author Bertie Stephens:
Bertie Stephens is an entrepreneur, environmentalist and now author whose career has spanned film, tech, and sustainability. Supported by the Clean Planet Foundation, he brings his creative and scientific passions together in his debut children’s novel, Ellie Ment and the Material Matter — a fast-paced adventure grounded in real-world environmental challenges.
By day, Bertie is the CEO and co-founder of Clean Planet Group, a pioneering environmental technology company that’s tackling one of the world’s most pressing issues: plastic waste. Through its flagship ecoPlants, Clean Planet transforms non-recyclable plastics into high-demand circular products, reducing carbon emissions and supporting the circular economy. The Group includes Clean Planet Energy, Clean Planet Technologies, and the Clean Planet Foundation – a not-for-profit division driving education, awareness and action aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and also publisher of Ellie Ment.
Under Bertie’s leadership, Clean Planet Energy has raised hundreds of millions in capital to build their ecoPlant facilities, and entered joint ventures across the UK, US, Europe, and beyond. Clean Planet Foundation’s projects have reached international recognition, with its work featured on the BBC and even the official UN COP magazine. In 2023, the Foundation’s documentary Behind The Trees swept major film awards, including the New York International Film Awards and Cannes World Film Festival.
Bertie’s entrepreneurial journey began over a decade ago as co-founder and CEO of the demand-driven marketplace Flubit.com. Named one of the UK’s most valuable venture-backed startups and acquired in 2018 by blockchain group MonetaryUnit, Flubit evolved into a global crypto-integrated eCommerce platform. His inclusion in Debrett’s 500 Most Influential People in Britain in 2016 recognised not just his
business impact, but also his mentorship and innovative thinking.
Bertie is also the editor of HAPSIE, the comic book for budding eco-warriors, which now has 10,000 print readers in the UK and beyond — and you’ll find some of the characters from the Ellie Ment book popping up.
Alongside running companies, Bertie has long been immersed in the creative arts. He co-founded MWS Media, a video production agency, and produced multiple independent films – including The Sweet Shop, starring Gemma Atkinson and Harry Potter alumnus Matthew Lewis (who he met when he acted as his performance double on the last 3 Harry Potter movies!). His first feature, Roanoke: The Lost Colony, was distributed as an educational tool across all 50 US states.
When not writing or building climate solutions, Bertie continues to advise and invest in creative and tech ventures, including SmartEye Productions (video), FeastHQ (late-night food delivery), and Reach OnAir (online radio). He splits his time between England and Czechia with his wife and young child.
Website: www.EllieMent.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bertie_stephens/
X/Twitter: https://x.com/bertie_stephens
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About the Publisher - Clean Planet Foundation:
The Clean Planet Foundation (CPF) is the non-profit arm of Clean Planet Group, created to educate, inspire, and mobilise action around plastic waste and carbon emissions. CPF produces award-winning environmental content and leads grassroots campaigns impacting communities across the UK and beyond.
Award-Winning Media Projects
Behind The Trees – A documentary on Scottish Highlands rewilding (with Trees For Life).
Won 10+ major film awards including:
New York International Film Awards
Cannes World Film Festival
Used in schools and global environmental education.
The Tree Seed Collection Project
A national rewilding initiative in Scotland.
Original 3-year target smashed in under 12 months — 2.2 million native seeds
collected.
HAPSIE – Monthly Print Comic
CPF’s flagship educational brand.
10,000 readers across the UK.
Features games, eco-projects, science explainers, and characters like Ignorant Ike,
Adah Action, and Ellie Ment.
24 monthly comics + 7 annual hardbacks published.
The Peninsula Plastic Project
A polar expedition programme launched with explorer Preet Chandi and University of
Portsmouth.
Focuses on plastic pollution fieldwork in extreme environments.
Featured on BBC TV, Radio, and in the official UN COP magazine.
Youth Empowerment Through Fiction
CPF is the proud publisher of the critically acclaimed Ellie Ment and the Material
Matter, supported by lesson plans and teacher workshops. Ellie is a bold,
scientifically curious heroine who shows how environmental awareness and
imagination can go hand in hand..
Publisher Website: https://www.cleanplanet.com/
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This has been a stop on the #EllieMentAndTheMaterialMatter blog tour conducted by Palamedes PR and coordinated through Hygge Book Tours. (@hyggebooktours on Insta.) Thanks for stopping by!
Your posts are amazing! Thank you!- Hygge Book Tours ❤️
ReplyDeleteThanks, Hannah! 💖
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