Ellie Ment is just another eleven-year-old resident of the sleepy town of Hapsie, England, but Ellie is also an unquenchable science enthusiast. She’s memorized the whole periodic table of elements, and she can pull out her knowledge at the drop of a hat. That leaves her well-primed (though still surprised) when a teacher shows her a new way to interact with the elements that make up the physical world—and thus, to change it.
Bertie Stephens’s ELLIE MENT AND THE MATERIAL MATTER has a central strength: it wears its values on its sleeve. This is the sort of thing that might be either unnoticed by (or self-evident to) middle grade readers, but as an adult, it’s hard to miss the text’s clarity of spirit. The novel inhabits a world where science is real, and its study is an avenue for the betterment of society. Intelligence is valued, but there are many forms of intelligence and many ways to contribute. Most significantly, collective action is the only way to face the global crises facing the world today. These are big ideas, but Stephens manages to compellingly personalize them. Here, science-minded Ellie teams up with creative upcycler Michael (and enlists the help of countless other kids) to address plastics polluting their local groundwater and visibly disrupting the ecosystem.
ELLIE MENT is also just plain fun. The text crams in a lot of adventure: a mysterious set of gauntlets that grant power over elements; an inciting mystery that can only be solved with knowledge of chemistry; a secret society with a vast underground lair—even a tricky competitive obstacle course that bears a passing resemblance to a wizarding school contest. Some of these elements feel a bit unexpected or flimsy (especially the last), but they mostly show up just long enough to propel the plot along, and that keeps each change of scenery feeling fresh. The constant companion is an active, energetic narrator with both some dry British snark (the unusual gauntlets that power the plot are described as magic wands, “if a magic wand was real, actually worked, and was powered by the fundamental laws of the universe instead of fairy dust and wishful thinking”) and a highly vocal storytelling style: “Bang. (No, sorry…) BANG!”
ELLIE MENT is exciting, funny, and charming. However, at its heart, it’s a call to action—to stand up, to be our best selves, and to stand together to tackle the challenges we all face in the current moment.
Bertie Stephens’s ELLIE MENT AND THE MATERIAL MATTER is a perfect blend of fun, informative, and timely.
~Dan Accardi for IndieReader