The Unforgotten Coat: 1

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Amnesty International UK 2019. Amnesty International UK Section Charitable Trust. A company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (03139939) and a charity registered in England and Wales (1051681) and Scotland (SC039534). Amnesty International United Kingdom Section. A company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (01735872). Registered office 17-25 New Inn Yard London EC2A 3EA. This is a stunning magical story of a summer of friendship with darker undertones of the plight of refugees. Two refugee brothers from Mongolia are determined to fit in with their Liverpool schoolmates, but bring so much of Mongolia to Bootle that their new friend and guide, Julie, is hard-pressed to know truth from fantasy as she recollects a wonderful friendship that was abruptly ended when Chingis and his family were forced to return to Mongolia. Told with the humour, warmth and brilliance of detail which characterizes Frank Cottrell Boyce's writing, this magical and compelling story is enriched by stunning and atmospheric Polaroid photos. Based on a true story this is an unforgettable and moving account of one girl's vivid memories of two Mongolian brothers briefly at her school. I don’t know what he expected me to do. But I was fully delighted to be asked. I slid past the boys and then turned on them. “All right,” I said, “Move on. Haven’t you seen a pair of Mongolian brothers before?”

That would certainly never happen in Roald Dahl," he says. "The problem I had with Chitty is that people remember the movie, which is a Dahl movie [Dahl wrote the screenplay] … there's a supercar, a supervillain and lots of sexual perversity." The Fleming original, by contrast, is "very sweet". It was also based on a real car, and Cottrell Boyce had a wonderful time unearthing the story of the original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, built in the 1920s by motor-racing daredevil Count Zborowski. He shows me a photo: "I met a man in Canterbury who helped build this monster when he was a little boy – he held a bag of rivets for his dad."They poked and pestered little Nergui, who still had his hat pulled right down, hiding his eyes. They kept telling him to make eagle noises. The kid – Nergui – huddled down in his coat, pulled his arms out of his sleeves and crossed them over his chest. His sleeves were flapping loose and he did fully look like a bird. Brothers Chingis and Nergui are determined to fit in with their Liverpool schoolmates, but Julie is hard-pressed to know truth from fiction as she recollects the stories they brought with them from their home, and the wonderful friendship she shared with them in her last summer of primary school. I don't think films ever change people the way books change people. But I know what you mean. I do see now doing things with the Reader Organisation that anyone can be saved, it's never too late. But there is something very porous about the years between eight and twelve. That's the debt I want to pay off, because it's the books I read then that really stayed with me." You will be our Good Guide,” he said. “In Mongolia we are nomads. When we come to a new country, we need to find a good guide. You will be our good guide in this place. Agree?” With his brilliant depiction of two brothers from Mongolia trying to adapt to school in Liverpool while haunted by a fear from home, Frank Cottrell Boyce never preachers to the reader, and judges felt that he writes with such credibility and warmth that his readers will be left wiser when they have finished the story."

Frank is also a successful writer of film scripts and was the official scriptwriter for the Opening Ceremony for the 2012 Olympics, playing an important role devising the ceremony with Danny Boyle. He is also a judge for the BBC Radio 2 500 Words competition. You can read a great interview with Frank and one of his fellow judge, Francesca Simon here!

Armistice Day: A Collection of Remembrance - Spark Interest and Educate Children about Historical Moments Frank Cottrell-Boyce is an accomplished, successful and award-winning author and screenwriter. His books have been shortlisted for a multitude of prizes, including the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, the Whitbread Children's Fiction Award (now the Costa Book Award) and the Roald Dahl Funny Prize and Millions, his debut children's novel, won the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2004.