From eerie adventures at sea, to endearing sausage-dog tales Firefly Press has the stories to encourage children to read for pleasure. And now we are thrilled to announce Let Your Imagination Fly, a book promotion and marketing programme aimed at reaching new readers aged between 7 and 18 in 2024.
As a Wales-based publisher, this outreach programme, funded by the Welsh Government’s New Audiences Fund, will focus on our home country. The latest PISA figures found that children’s reading levels in Wales are the lowest in the UK, and along with other countries, there has been a steep decline post-pandemic. And with a score of 466 in reading, comparable to an OECD average of 476, the need to encourage new readers is stronger than ever.
Research also shows that reading for pleasure is ‘the single biggest indicator of a child’s life chances’. An OECD 2021 report stated that: ‘engagement in reading, framed by a desire to read for pleasure, can mediate socio-economic status and may help address endemic inequalities’.
As our titles are aimed at children and young adults, we feel it is vital that they: a) appeal to young readers as reading for pleasure, and b) are discoverable through schools and libraries and other community spaces as well as bookshops, and virtually, online, where new readers might come across books for the first time. We also believe it is key that our titles can show readers themselves reflected in the books they read, and are empathetic reads that encourage understanding of Wales’ diverse communities.
The Let Your Imagination Fly project aims to organise author visits to schools, libraries or community centres, particularly in low income and/or ethnically diverse areas across Wales, to target potential new readers through social media, and to collaborate with reading promotion agencies to encourage more children from Wales to read for pleasure.
If you would like to find out more about the opportunities to get involved with Let Your Imagination Fly, please contact Megan.Rees@fireflypress.co.uk
The news is finally out! Major and Mynah, written by Karen Owen and illustrated by Louise Foreshaw, has been selected for The Blue Peter Book Club.
Working with The Reading Agency, Blue Peter host a monthly book club segment on their show. Each month, they film at interesting and active locations thematically linked to that month’s book where Blue Peter presenters join readers for a book club discussion of that month’s title. Children who join in with the Book Club and send their reviews can earn a brand-new Blue Peter Book Badge designed by Sir Quentin Blake.
Major and Mynah will be featured on Blue Peter, (CBBC and iPlayer) CBBC HQ, BBC Social accounts, BBC websites including the BBC Education Bitesize platform and CBBC.
BBC Education will support the Blue Peter Book Club by creating 12 companion guides to sit within Bitesize Primary.
Callie Major does not like wearing her new hearing aids AT ALL. But when she meets abandoned Mynah bird Bo, she realises that her ‘slugs’ mean she can communicate with him!
Together the unlikely duo set off to catch the thief who has been causing trouble all over town. Includes high-speed chases, a very peckish bird and purple POO!
To celebrate St Davidʼs Day, we’re revealing the cover of our brand new childrenʼs poetry anthology of ʻdragon-focusedʼ poems, conceived and edited by the National Poet of Wales, Hanan Issa, with a wonderful ‘dragonʼ cover from Eric Heyman. The anthology features some 29 poems by 26 poets from across Wales. Ac Rwy’n Clywed Dreigiau/ And I Hear Dragons will be published in English and bilingually in Welsh and English on May 30th.
A ground-breaking new anthology from diverse Welsh writers aimed at children aged between eight and twelve.
And I Hear Dragons explores the concept of identity, and Hanan has written a poem of the same name that ʻcelebrates the children of Wales as ferociously brave mythical beastsʼ, taking on discrimination, pollution and more, and upholding Walesʼ tradition of croesawgar (welcoming).
ISBN 9781915444578 | Paperback | RRP £7.99
Participating poets include Wales Childrenʼs Laureate Alex Wharton, Iestyn Tyne, Nia Morais, Grug Muse, Sophie Anderson, Mari Ellis Dunning, Emma Smith Barton, Jaffrin, Marvin Thompson and many more…
This week we received the exciting news that we are a Country Finalist for the prestigious Small Press of the Year Awards.
The British Book Awards 2024 Small Press of the Year, sponsored by CPI Books, celebrates the independent presses dedicated to imaginative, forward-looking and diverse publishing.
In total there are 55 small presses listed across nine different regions and countries, including 12 in London, seven in both Scotland and South-East England, six in North England, five in Wales, South-West England and the Midlands, and four in the Island of Ireland and East England.
A huge thanks to our wonderful editors, designers, marketers, reps, authors, illustrators, translators, agents and more for making this possible. Roll on the Nibbies!
This week we received the exciting news that Digging for Victory, written by Cathy Faulkner has been longlisted for the prestigious Yoto Carnegie Medal for writing. Being included on both the Carnegie and Branford Boase shortlist is a testament to its outstanding writing.
The Yoto Carnegies are the UK’s longest running and best-loved children’s book awards, recognising outstanding reading experiences created through writing and illustration in books for children and young people.
The Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing is awarded by children’s librarians for an outstanding book written in English for children and young people.
.
Digging for Victory
Set in Devon in 1941, Digging for Victory tells the story of twelve-year-old Bonnie Roberts who is desperate to play a valuable part in the war effort. For her, tending the family vegetable patch just doesn’t cut it; she wants to be a hero like her RAF pilot brother, Ralph.
But when the mysterious Mr Fisher is billeted at her farmhouse, and Ralph is reported missing in action, she starts to question what heroism actually involves. And as Bonnie attempts to find out who Mr Fisher really is, she embarks on a life-changing and emotional voyage of discovery.
“Adventure-filled with beautiful verse and a very satisfying ending. Perfect for middle grade readers.” Lucy Cuthew
