I’ve just finished the last Firefox and what a wonderful story it is! Perfect during the cold winter days when I just wanted to be cosy and snuggled up with a fabulous read, and this is exactly that book!

Following Charlie and his two best friends Roo and Lippy, and covering some really important themes throughout, such as bullying, adoption and single sex parents. It was a joy to see the latter, there really isn’t enough stories for younger readers with such representation, and it matters so much for all children to have the chance to see themselves in the stories they read.

A magical adventure ensues when a magical portal that appears one day. Charlie is given a fox to take care of, but it’s not just any fox, this is a Firefox!

The Last Firefox is a magical adventure full of heart and a strong central message about finding your inner courage and self-belief, and a wonderful example of rainbow families. I highly recommend this to everyone for a feel good, and at times, moving story that will stay with you long after reading.

Full of heart and adventure. This book sparked my interest and filled my heart of warmth and emotion. A firm new favourite and a new one click author for me.

Charlie and his best friends Lippy and Roo are in their last weeks of primary school.. The blight on Charlie’s life are 2 bullies and he wishes was braver like his firefighter Dad to stand up to them. Although he’d like a little brother or sister he doesn’t even think he is brave enough to protect them as he should.
A game played by the 3 friends involves hiding a painted pebble for the others to find, and determined to find a spot his friends won’t discover, Charlie visits the town castle. What he didn’t expect was to be appointed guardian to a magical Firefox - the last of its kind. This strange animal bursts to flames whenever excited, hungry or scared. So keeping him secret from his firefighter Dad is paramount. Neither did he expect to have to protect him from the ferocious Grendilock, determined to locate and steal away the Firefox to do it harm.
Although worried about a wild chase across train tracks, narrowly missing a fast moving train this book has a lot of action and excitement.
After a lot of trouble Charlie then faces the biggest challenge of all - is he brave enough to save both the Firefox and both his Dads?

I received this book from Netgalley for a honest review

I am in love, the characters are adorable and lovable and it’s such a lovely story that anyone could enjoy.

This story tells of a boy called Charlie who would do anything to be brave, to be able to stand up for himself and against the bullies at school, to be brave for his potential new sibling that his dad’s are looking to adopt. But he struggles to find the fire in his soul to do so. That is until he is trying to hide his pebble in the most secretive place possible so his friends can’t find it…. And he comes across a mysterious stranger with a unusual but very very cute creature. Charlie is left to look after the fire fox and keep him safe from the terrible grendilock.

If you want a cosy, meaningful story with lovable characters and an important message this one is for you. I adore Cadno and the way the story is written to focus on finding your inner strength and fire. The hideous and horrible grendilock, was creepy and works as a great villain… even if a little scary.

I can’t wait to read more from this author, and also can we have more adorable animals too!

This was an excellent book. Great for age nine and over. Looking forward to buying a copy to share with my class. They’ll love it!

I've seen The Last Firefox described as Pokémon meets E.T. - and that's exactly how this enchanting middle grade adventure felt to me! Lee Newbery's tale of a sweet-but-insecure schoolboy finding his own inner fire when he's tasked with taking care of an adorable, magical troublemaker (who just happens to be The Last Firefox) is a huge-hearted and often hilarious romp reminiscent of the best Amblin adventure movies of my own childhood.

Charlie Challinor is the perfect everykid narrator - not the most popular or sportiest kid in school - but kind, smart and funny right from the start, with two ferociously devoted friends (Lippy & Roo) at school and two equally devoted and loving Dads at home. Kids everywhere will relate to Charlies struggles with the school bullies, and with worrying he's Not Enough compared to brilliance he sees in those who love him most - in particular, his heroic firefighter Dad and fearlessly hilarious Lippy and Roo, who each have their own unique tactics for dealing with the school bullies.

Charlie, on the other hand, doesn't feel brave enough to stand up to bullies - and certainly doesn't consider himself brave or strong enough to be a good big brother/protector to his impending baby sibling. So when he's left in charge of a loveable-but-mischievous firefox - and warned that the terrifying, shape-shifting Grendilock might be hot on his trail - the ensuing chaos and adventure helps Charlie discover his own inner fire (and also, why it's a terrible idea to try to smuggle a magical creature around a supermarket on your weekly shop);

Of course, the real star of the show is Cadno - the mischievous firefox who wins Charlie's heart while wrecking adorable havoc to his life! My kids were utterly besotted by Cadno's naughty hijinks - the supermarket scene had my 6 year old son squealing with glee while giggling "nonono!" over and over as I read - and I feel truly grateful Firefoxes are fictional, or they would DEFINITELY want to adopt one of their own!

Charlie's Dads provide some fantastic gay rep too: wonderful, loving parents whose main role here is - as with so many of these adventures - to make hiding a magical whirlwind of mayhem that bit harder. Including adoptive parents (who are planning to adopt again) also allows for a VERY fun social worker subplot, which ties into the main adventure in the most unexpected way!

Fast-paced, heart-warming, beautifully written and with moments of sheer comedy gold, The Last Firefox is a timeless story that's already won special place in the hearts of my kids, and is sure become a childhood favourite for young readers everywhere, for years to come. Movie, please???

(This is not an own voices review)So I pre ordered this because I liked the premise. I have found so many middlegrade recently that I have fallen in love with. I expected to like it.. but I didn't realise how much I'd love it.

Charlie is a quite kid who is bullied a lot.. the situation with his bullies reminded me of what happened to me when I was younger. Someone just taking a disliking to me and the bullying me throughout school. I really felt for Charlie. But unlike me he had two amazing friends Lippy and Roo. They're the type of friends everyone wishes they had.. loyal and trustworthy. Fun to be around. The kind of friends I wish I'd have had when I was younger. No matter what they supported him and it was great to see.

The Queer rep in here was done so well in my opinion. I really like in books where the rep is just discussed as part of every day life. Charlie has two dads and that's just how it is. Queer rep doesn't always have to be someone being bullied or hiding who they are etc. This.. to me just shows that you can have rep in a book and it can be happy rep.(if that makes sense)

Now we have talked about the humans.. let's talk about Cadno.. well... erm.. get me a fire fox please?? He had his own little personality and he was just adorable.

For me an author is great when I am reading and I can imagine everything in my head like a movie.. from the little mannerisms of Cadno.. to the action scenes within athe book, to portray the feelings of the characters and Lee just does this so well..

I honestly just enjoyed the ride so much and cannot wait for the paperback to arrive in March

Thank you Puffin for gifting me a copy of this as an e arc.

I’m sure that for many parents of primary school-aged children, their views of the last few weeks of the autumn term are skewed by their memories of their own childhoods and that they imagine that everything revolves around Nativity plays, parties and making those precious wonky cards that their offspring bring home with enormous pride. To a certain extent, that is all true but what parents don’t see is how these things fit alongside teaching the normal curriculum and how much preparation goes into these activities so that for almost all primary staff, this is a really demanding time, with a great many extra hours worked.

In my case, the past fortnight has been full-on, with assessments to be marked, data to be submitted online and paperwork to be completed, leaving me with a lot less reading time than I would normally have and so I have been extra-picky about what I have been reading. Having initially thought I wouldn’t request this on Net Galley, for fear of not finding time to read and review it, I found myself feeling really quite cross on the author’s behalf after reading that he had had a one star review based on its portrayal of the protagonist’s family, and determined that I would request it and make the time to read it myself. And I’m so very glad that I did. This is a fabulous debut – packed with adventure, friendship and excitement and is a title that I will be recommending to a great many when it is published next year.

Our story opens in fine style with our hero, Charlie, being chased by a goose – an event which he claims is entirely the fault of his friend Lippy. This particular goose has taken offence at Charlie trying to retrieve a pebble from a little wooden duck house, placed there as part of a game, similar to geocaching. Returning home defeated, Charlie says a brief hello to his dads before hiding out in his treehouse where he is soon joined by his friends Roo and Lippy. Cross with himself for failing to bring home the pebble, Charlie listens as Lippy not only pulls his leg about being chased by the goose but also gently tells him that he needs to be able to stand up for himself a bit more frequently than he currently does, as he is being bullied at school.

Resigned to the situation, Charlie resolves to at least bring about the end of the pebble-hiding game and the following day heads to a local landmark to hide his latest pebble somewhere that Lippy and Roo will never find it. After tucking it securely away, and thinking up a cryptic clue that he believes his friends will be unable to solve, Charlie is startled by somebody bursting out from some ivy and knocking him over.

That somebody is Teg, who quickly explains to Charlie that he has come through a gateway from Fargone, bringing Firetail – the last firefox – with him. Firetail is in dire need of protection from the Grendilock – a fearsome creature who is on his tail and Teg asks Charlie to take care of the firefox for two days, while Teg leads the beast away and can then return to collect him. An astonished Charlie agrees, but when Teg fails to come back Charlie realises that not only will he need help to look after Firetail but also that the Grendlilock is still searching for his new charge. Will Charlie, Lippy and Roo manage to keep the firefox safe from harm? Can Charlie find the strength he needs to stand up to the Grendilock? And will Teg and Firetail be reunited?

I love magical creatures – not those overly sparkly and drippy types, but those with what I would deem to be proper powers, which have the ability to hold their own when necessary and which form close bonds with their human companions. Here, the firefox is a wonderful creation – close enough to reality for younger readers to picture easily and with the ability to set fires in response to its emotions leading Charlie into a few close shaves. In Charlie, he finds a reliable protector – someone who despite his own fears and lack of self-belief is determined to do whatever it takes to look after his new vulpine friend. Together, they make a beautiful partnership which is reflected wonderfully in the gorgeous illustrations throughout the book which will entrance younger readers and encourage those less confident children to pick up this read and enjoy it.

This is the second book I’ve read this year as a direct response to reading authors’ comments on Twitter that they have had criticism for writing about rainbow families. Within my class I have a child with two mothers and another who has a bisexual parent and I for one am delighted that I am able to add books to my little library shelf that better reflect their families – not just for their sakes, but for all of my charges. I’ve said before that there must be children that pass through my class who are starting to recognise that they are members of the LGBTQ+ community and hopefully by sharing titles such as this they will see themselves as just as normal as their cishet peers who will in turn go on to be far more accepting of differences than a great many adults sadly are.

This was the book that I needed this week while I’ve been swamped with work tasks. Exciting and action-packed without being scary, highly amusing in parts, and with a real heart-warming ending that will leave its readers with a warm glow, this is perfect for Year 4 upwards and I cannot wait to get my sticky mitts on a proper copy to share in school. Huge thanks go to publisher Puffin and Net Galley for my virtual advance read ahead of publication on 3rd March 2022.

I have to do my best not to just gush for the whole review of The Last Firefox by debut author Lee Newbery.

You see it’s all about layers.

Ostensibly it’s the story of a little boy, Charlie, who wants to be more brave. He can’t stand up to his bullies and wants to be able to look after the new sibling his parents are preparing for.

Then you layer in the magic - while playing at a ruined castle, he’s given a Firefox, Cadno, to keep safe from a bad King and an evil shape shifting beast. Can Charlie find his metaphorical inner fire, while keeping the literal fire of Cadno from being discovered?

It all sounds very standard middle grade - and it does tick all of those boxes with huge confidence - there is well handled action, comedy set pieces and a good villain to hate.

Newbery excels in the execution. His writing is accessible for the target age - very visual, the dialogue is pitched well, and the three young characters friendship is beautifully drawn.

The next layer comes with the relationship between Charlie and his dad. Here, the book really sings. The kindness and respect shown is wonderful and it’s rare in middle grade fiction to want to see more of the grown ups in the story!

On a personal note, as a same sex adopter of two children, the final layer is the way that a child with two dads, who are adopting again, is handled deftly so that a child with two dads will feel seen, a child with a mum and a dad will be educated on our normalcy (without realising), and a child who is realising they’re different will be able to see that they can have a loving family when they’re older. It will also reassure adopted children if they are getting a sibling.

Through Section 28, the Thatcher government took away the chance for me to feel normal, and not alone in my feelings. I always tear up when I realise children today don’t have to go through that. By existing the book makes me happy.

You will hear incessantly about this book until release in March. Pre order now!

The Last Firefox is a magical adventure packed with heart and a strong central message about finding your inner courage and self-belief. Lee Newbery's hero, Charlie, is extremely relatable, struggling with feeling like he isn't a hero and won't be good enough to be a big brother to the baby that his Dads are looking to adopt. When he finds himself flung into an adventure involving a magical fox on the run from a deadly creature his problems only get worse. There are gripping adventure sequences as the plot unfolds, and it zips along neatly in a book that is well-paced and engaging. There are plenty of moments of fun, too, as Charlie gets to know his cute but fiery new pet. Charlie's growth in confidence as he faces down danger and learns to believe in himself, is believable and inspiring. The heart of Lee Newbery's debut lies in the relationships between Charlie and his Dads, and in his creating a real world consequence for hiding a fiery magical creature in the house that lifts it above the hero getting into trouble - for Charlie, the danger is that the presence of a creature that can shoot flames might jeopardise him getting a new baby brother or sister.

With magic, adventure, humour and a clear themes about friendship, family and finding who you really are, this is an enjoyable, fun, and at times moving read.

I’ve just finished the last Firefox and oh what a truly wonderful book this was. I had such a lovely time reading this one and especially in these cold winter days it warmed me right up and gave me all the cozy feels I needed.

Following Charlie and his two best friends Roo and Lippy, adventure ensues after through a magical portal that mysteriously appears one day a boy named Teg comes from said portal and gives Charlie a Fox to care of.. but not any old Fox a Firefox!! But all does not go smoothly as There is something deadly and dangerous trying to come after the Firefox.. what for ? you’ll have to find out and read it yourselves :)

I’ve also got to add too.. Charlie is an adopted child with two dads and to see the representation of not only adoption but also same sex couples and adoption together in middlegrade is something I’ve not seen before and I feel needs to be written about more!! Representation truly does matter and to see the author (who I know this is very close to His heart) write about this and give us a glimpse into that just so beautiful!

I recommend everyone to check this book out when it releases!!
You’ll just have truly the best fun time with these characters and who doesn’t love a great adventure 😍