Firefly Press | Children's Books for readers from five to young adult

Magical middle grade adventure coming soon from Catherine Fisher

We are extremely excited to announce that we have acquired world rights to a ‘magical story of snow and stars’ by Catherine Fisher, author of the best-selling Incarceron and The Obsidian Mirror series.

Middle-grade novel, The Clockwork Crow is a mysterious gothic Christmas tale set in a Victorian country mansion. It will publish in paperback in October 2018.

When orphaned Seren Rees is given a mysterious package by a strange and frightened man on her way to her new home, she reluctantly takes it with her. But what is in the parcel? Who are the Family who must not be spoken of, and can the Crow help Seren find Tom, before the owner of the parcel finds her? The Clockwork Crow is a gripping Christmas tale of families and belonging set in snowy Wales from a master storyteller.

'Catherine is a world-class author and we are delighted to be publishing this wonderfully imagined story for Christmas,' said Firefly Press Publisher and editor Penny Thomas 'Magical snowfalls are a key part of this story, and we’re only slightly concerned that every time we have worked on the novel so far this year it has started to snow...'

The Clockwork Crow is part of a wide-ranging 2018 list from Firefly which also includes Seaglass, a second MG novel from Eloise Williams (September), YA chiller Three Strikes from authors Lucy Christopher, Kat Ellis and Rhian Ivory (October), and Flight, a WW2 story of the Lippizaner horses from debut novelist Vanessa Harbour (August).

Catherine Fisher will be appearing at London Book Fair on a panel event on magical realism in children’s fiction from Wales, chaired by Penny Thomas, on Wednesday 11 April, 4-5pm in the Children’s Hub.

Firefly at Five and Dog Town launch event at London Book Fair

Sarah Govett wins Trinity Schools Book Award

We are delighted to announce that Sarah Govett has won the 2018 Trinity Schools Book Award (TSBA) for the first novel in her critically acclaimed trilogy The Territory.

The Territory beat strong contenders including The Weight of Water (Sarah Crossan), Welcome to Nowhere (Elizabeth Laird) and Railhead (Philip Reeve) to claim the top prize.

Govett said: ‘I’m very honoured to have been chosen for the TSBA amongst such brilliant authors and thrilled that my writing resonates with my readers. I wanted to tell the story of The Territory to highlight the environmental and socio-economic challenges that our teens are likely to face in the future, so I’m delighted that the series is gaining recognition.’

Now in its fourth year, the TSBA was launched in 2014 by librarians from 22 independent senior schools in the Trinity group, with an aim to celebrate quality writing in both new and older fiction. The TSBA Committee determines a theme each year and shortlists books nominated by librarians in the Trinity group. The theme for the 2017-18 TSBA was ‘A New World’ and this year 24 schools signed up to take part, including nine from outside the Trinity group.

Tony Jones, Librarian at Emanuel School and TSBA Committee member, said: ‘We congratulate Sarah Govett on the achievement. Given the current political climate it is not surprising that The Territory, a dystopian thriller, clearly resonated with our students who chose it as their winner. Sarah’s vision of a future in which most of the country is under water is a powerful call to arms to tackle climate change. The brutal, unfair education system takes the intensity of exam pressure to terrifying new levels; this is a world where creativity is not valued, where failure of the dreaded TAA at age 15 results in almost-certain death.’

Hailed by a Guardian’s children’s book site critic as ‘the 1984 of our time’, The Territory was shortlisted in the Times /Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition 2014 and named one of The Telegraph’s Best YA Novels of 2015. The Territory and the sequel Escape (2016) are both recommended BookTrust reads. The TSBA accolade follows Govett’s win of the Gateshead Book Award in January 2017.

The much-anticipated finale in The Territory trilogy, Truth, is publishing on 29 March.

Ahoy there - watch out for terrific spring titles coming soon from Firefly Press!

This month sees the WORLD BOOK DAY launch of Fug and the Thumps by the wonderful Malachy Doyle:

In this thrilling ‘out of the frying pan and into the fire’ junior adventure, Ben, bullied by the dreaded Fug and the Thumps, runs away from home and finds himself stuck on a tiny island when his kayak floats off without him. He has to survive on the things he can scavenge from the empty holiday homes and work out a way to get rescued. As he struggles to attract attention from the shore, he has time to think over how Fug controls the school, and he eventually comes up with a real answer ... if he can only get back. £5.99

And for younger readers Joe and the Adventure Door Pirates, by Laura Sheldon, illustrated by Erica Jane Waters, and published in association with Fairydoorz, will provide hours of fun as Joe battles the pirates to save the fairy gold. £6.95

Then in March and April come the gripping finales our our two MG/YA trilogies, The Heart of Mars and The Territory, Truth.

Third in the Lora Trilogy from Paul Magrs is The Heart of Mars: Lora, Peter and Toaster have reached the final and most dangerous stage of their quest to reunite Lora’s family and return to their Homestead on the red Martian plains. But are the Ancients of Mars friend or foe? And could the ghostly Valley of the Starships hold the key to all their futures?

£7.99

And will Noa, Raf and Jack defeat the Territory system that sends thousands of teens to their deaths each year in The Territory, Truth, a stunning conclusion to the 'unputdownable' and highly acclaimed series, exploring fake news, education and global warming and asking: how far can you go and still be on the right side...?

£7.99

'A brilliant, five-star read', Sarah J. Harris

The Jewelled Jaguar launched at Mr Bs Emporium

The Jewelled Jaguar a new title for 9-12s from Sharon Tregenza was launched at Mr Bs Emporium Bookshop in Bath last month.

Described as 'Fast-moving, with a great sense of the natural world as well as hints at supernatural beings – good and bad – this is a thoroughly satisfying tale of young people saving the day.' by Andrea Reece from Lovereading4kids.

Listen to an audio extract here.

With his mother is in hospital in a coma, Griffin has to stay with the uncle and aunt he hasn’t seen in years. His cousin Cinnamon doesn’t want him there. What’s going on? Is it something to do with the fabulous Aztec knife about to go on display in the museum? Is it really cursed? Griffin and Cinnamon will have to find a way to work together to survive when they are lured down into the secret tunnels…

The Jewelled Jaguar is Sharon's second middle grade title for Firefly, following the very popular The Shiver Stone (2014).

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