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The Unforgotten CoatFrank Cottrell-Boyce
The Unforgotten Coat
by Frank Cottrell-Boyce
Two Mongolian brothers join a Bootle primary school and appoint Julie their Good Guide, on the understanding that a demon is following them.
A story about children, funny and moving in tone. We would put it with children of 9–12, and at a reading age of about 10 for reading alone.
Worth knowing before you buy
- Separated from family
None of this makes it a bad book — often the opposite. It is here so you can decide whether it is right for your child now or in a year or two.
Our take on this book
Julie's Liverpool classroom gains two Mongolian brothers, Chingis and Nergui, who claim they are being pursued by a demon and ask her to be their 'Good Guide' to this strange new country — and years later Julie looks back on that friendship and on how little she understood at the time. Frank Cottrell-Boyce wrote this short, funny, quietly heartbreaking novel about asylum seekers, inspired by a real child, and illustrated it with Polaroid photographs that give it a haunting documentary feel. It is warm and comic on the surface, but underneath is a serious, moving story about welcome, belonging and the fate of families seeking refuge. There is nothing frightening, though the ending carries real emotional weight. For a nine- to twelve-year-old it is a brief, powerful, unusual read that builds deep empathy — a book that seems light and turns out to stay with a reader for a very long time, from a wonderfully humane writer.
If they like this, try these
Chosen by matching age, reading age, tone and subject — not by what is selling.
MillionsFrank Cottrell-Boyce
Sputnik's Guide to Life on EarthFrank Cottrell-Boyce
Amari and the Great GameB. B. Alston
Amari and the Night BrothersB. B. Alston
Boy OverboardMorris Gleitzman
Or let them write their own.
Nothing gets a child reading like a story they invented themselves. Your child plans the characters and the plot, and we write, illustrate and print it as a real book with their name on the cover as the author.
Find another book
Tell us the age, the reading age and what they like, and we will suggest a handful.