A heartwarming story about family, friendship and finding your inner fire.
Between bullies at school and changes at home, Charlie Challinor finds life a bit scary. And when he's made guardian of a furry fox cub called Cadno, things get a whole lot scarier.
Because Cadno isn't just any fox: he's a firefox -- the only one of his kind -- and a sinister hunter from another world is on his trail.
Swept up into an unexpected adventure to protect his flammable friend, Charlie's going to need to find the bravery he never thought he had, if he's going to save the last firefox .
Written by Iris
This upper middle-grade book is about a boy named Charlie who is entrusted with the titular last firefox, a creature from another realm. It’s sort of like being handed a furry orange puppy, except that he must
keep it a secret—and also, it might set his house on fire if it feels anxious or threatened. No biggie.
Charlie, who has a bit of trouble finding his place in life (he’s about to leave primary school, he’s getting bullied, and his dads are thinking about adopting another child), promises to take care of the fox for two days. But when time is up and no one comes to collect it, things start to get out of hand—especially when it becomes clear that someone else is after the floofy troublemaker.
Honestly, I thought I’d grown out of reading middle-grade books, but this one is just so darn good. The story is exciting, the characters are GREAT, the fox is just the most adorable thing in the world (Laura Catalán’s art is perfect and adds such a great touch to the book!), and perhaps my favorite thing: it’s properly funny in a way that is also amusing to adult readers such as myself, which tells me that the author probably just has a really great sense of humor.
If you like your middle-grade served with a hint of magic, a bit of LGBTQIA+ rep, and the most adorable fox cub you’ve ever laid eyes on, this is definitely the book for you! If you like the book, good news: a sequel called The First Shadowdragon is available, and the third part in the series, The Lost Sunlion, is coming out this month.
