Ellie Ment and the Material Matter: The Science Book Your Child Will Actually Want to Read

If you’re a parent who’s ever tried to talk to your child about the environmental impact of fashion, smartphones, cosmetics—or even summer holidays—you’ll know how quickly it can spiral into an argument (or at best an exasperated eyeroll).

Ellie Ment and the Material Matter might just be the way in.

Smart, funny and grounded in real science, Bertie Stephens’ novel is a gripping eco-mystery that helps children connect the dots without ever talking down to them. It’s a book that opens the conversation about science and environmentalism, without turning it into a row.

It tells the story of Ellie Ment, a free-spirited, head-strong 11-year-old girl who would rather be experimenting in her garden with jam jars than listening to fairy tales. When a fire leaves her school in ruins and the adults start floundering, Ellie rolls up her sleeves and begins investigating.

What follows is a fast-paced mystery powered entirely by real science.

Ellie builds her own experiments, gathers evidence, and refuses to let things go unexplained. The facts she deals with—how rainwater changes across seasons, quantum relativity, what microplastics do to soil—are all based on real environmental science. The story stays grounded in reality, following a determined girl who tackles big questions with curiosity, evidence and a refusal to take vague answers at face value.

Plenty of books try to tackle the subject, but few treat children as if they’re genuinely capable of grasping real science—and even fewer manage to make that science exciting. Ellie Ment does both. In fact, it’s the rare children’s book that manages to be educational, gripping and laugh-out-loud funny all at once. Ellie’s voice is sharp and honest, her best friend Michael is a chaotic upcycler who builds gadgets out of scrap, and their town, Hapsie, is full of nosy neighbours, terrible council decisions, and more than a few secrets. My own daughter (10, going on 16) tore through it in a couple of sittings, giggling at the characters and quoting lines back at me.

But as we read together, I started noticing something else. Underneath the jokes, there’s something serious going on. The book doesn’t preach, but it does make you think: Why do we still build schools with materials no one can pronounce? Why do we ignore what kids notice first? Why aren’t we teaching more of this in lessons?

The book—ideal for boys and girls from nine to 12—is published by ​ The Clean Planet Foundation, a CIC that runs science-led polar expeditions, tree planting schemes, and microplastics research projects. It even opens with a thoughtful foreword by the environmentalist and former MEP Stanley Johnson—father of Boris Johnson—who lends his support to the book’s mission of making science engaging, accessible and urgent for a new generation. It’s a fitting contribution, given that Mr Johnson played a key role in shaping both United Nations and European environmental policy.

The book’s publication this week couldn’t have come at a better time. Research by the Royal Society of Chemistry previously warned that environmental education in UK schools is falling worryingly short, with many pupils missing out on the basics of carbon cycles, soil degradation or plastic toxicity. Ask a Year 6 pupil what “sustainability” means and you’re likely to get a blank stare—or an inaccurate soundbite they’ve seen on TikTok.

Ellie Ment fills that gap in a way that’s actually enjoyable. The science is accurate, the mystery is clever, and the message—if there is one—is simple: keep asking questions. Every one of Ellie’s experiments is something a curious child could try at home, with a bit of supervision and plenty of imagination. It’s science made adventurous, and adventure made meaningful.

What’s more, there’s no preachy finale, no final speech about saving the planet. Ellie learns something much more useful: how to challenge bad answers, how to follow the evidence, and how to spot when grown-ups are bluffing. That, more than anything, is what makes this book so refreshing.

Every school should have a copy. Every kitchen table should have a child reading it. And if you’ve ever wondered how to talk to your children about plastic waste, climate change, or why grown-ups always dodge the big questions, this book does it. It even makes quantum relativity sound like something you’d chat about over breakfast.

Which, frankly, beats another row about fast fashion and phone chargers.

My rating: five stars.

Ellie Ment and the Material Matter by Bertie Stephens is out now. To find out more about the book and the environmental science behind it, visit The Clean Planet Foundation​ or ask your child’s school to order a copy. For further information about the book, visit www.EllieMent.com