The Elemental Detectives: the first book in a cracking adventure series

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Her writing has won awards including the Waterstones Children's Book Prize for Older Children and The Bookseller YA Book Prize.

Kelly's particular interest in language acquisition and vocabulary development has led to the publication of her first book, Word Power: Amplifiying vocabulary instruction (2019) - full of ideas for building a language-rich environment and top tips to Power-Up explicit vocabulary instruction. Their differing perspectives, where both are black but only one was a slave, made for some really interesting character dynamics and explained a lot about their different world views. A wonderfully busy cast of characters include the Cursing Boar of Fleet Ditch, versed in 83 languages (learn your London Horse! I really couldn’t put it down” Reya, The Week Junior’s Summer of Reading 2023 “I loved reading about a re-imagining of London with so much invention and energy. p. 3-4) This is what I’d like to see more of – if there are elemental spirits, they probably interacted with human history!Marisee and Robert are the Elemental Detectives chasing the clues to avoid catastrophe: they must face the ghosts of Hyde Park, the monstrous coiled snake of the Serpentine, and a whole host of other fantastical creatures in their mission to stop the Shepherdess and prevent London slumbering for all eternity… Big, bold, future classic storytelling for a new generation.

Set within the ancient streets of London, the world that Lawrence has created is one which is ruled by the Elemental spirits – the Dragons (fire), the Fumis (air), the Chads (water) and the Magogs (earth). When he helps Marisee escape some attacking sleepers, he discovers a world of Elemental spirits, serpents in the Serpentine and ghosts in Hyde Park. Lawrence is passionate about bringing people of colour back into the history narrative and she has done so with flair and authority in this lively middle grade novel.This novel would be a fantastic choice for the upper primary or lower secondary classroom to ensure that books are reflecting the lives of their readers – female and male protagonists of colour, different family structures (Marisee lives with her grandmother, Robert has been taken away from his family), friendship, making difficult choices, etc. As the reader is drawn into the sights and smells of this otherworldly London with Lawrence’s superb world-building craft, we soon learn that a fog of yellow sickness has taken hold across the city, sending all who fall foul into a deep sleep.

It follows Marisee and Robert who live in an alternate version of London where Elemental spirits linger, and a mysterious villain named the Shepherdess who is seemingly forcing most of the population into an eternal slumber. I just hope that Patrice Lawrence takes the time in future installments to flesh out her ideas more! Welcome to eighteenth-century London, where there are four Elemental spirits that most humans know nothing about: the fiery Dragons, airy Fumis, earthbound Magogs and the watery Chads. I think this book could have used some more rounds of edits for clarity and precision — it was confusing where characters were and how they got there sometimes.When Zahra accidentally swaps suitcases with a witch, she experiences a weekend of magical surprises, helping her to overcome her fears and form new friendships. Marisee and Robert are the Elemental Detectives chasing the clues to avoid catastrophe: they must face the ghosts of Hyde Park, the monstrous coiled snake of the Serpentine, and a whole host of other fantastical creatures in their mission to stop the Shepherdess and prevent London slumbering for all eternity.

As with her other books, Lawrence has created caring, sensitive and self-aware protagonists of colour in the Elemental Detectives.Patrice Lawrence is the multi-award-winning author of Orangeboy, which won the 2017 Waterstone’s Book Prize, the 2017 YA Book Prize and was shortlisted for the 2017 Costa Book Awards and the Carnegie Award.