Packham's 'heart-warming' middle-grade tale of homelessness to Firefly

Children’s and YA publisher Firefly Press has acquired Simon Packham's "moving" middle-grade novel about homelessness Has Anyone Seen Archie Ebbs?.

Penny Thomas, publisher, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Anne Clark at the Anne Clark Literary Agency. Publication is scheduled for spring 2022. 

The synopsis reads: "Archie Ebbs has the perfect life. Good friends, a nice home and classmates who laugh at (nearly) all his jokes. But all that is about to change. As his family lose their home and move into temporary housing, Archie has his own worries... is he really starting to become invisible? While his older sister is determined to hide their situation from her friends, Archie finds himself disappearing. But being invisible isn’t half as much fun as it ought to be. Only with the help of his new (and also invisible) neighbour, Zofia, can he get back his beloved cat, Dinger, and start to make himself visible again."

"More and more children in the UK live in precarious home circumstances but treating a serious subject with sometimes laugh-out-loud humour is a rare skill," said editor Rebecca Lloyd. "Archie is a brilliant, relatable and heart-warming character who carries his story with a lightness of touch that had me rooting for him from the off."

Packham commented: "I felt that the story of hidden homelessness needed to be told and I hope that through Archie's voice, I've found a way to tell it that will strike a chord with younger readers."

Packham is a professional actor, musician and comedian. He is the author of many children's books including Piccadilly Press titles comin 2 gt u (2010), Silenced (2012), Firewallers (2013), Trust Games (2014) and Only We Know (2015).