The Unforgotten Coat (Candlewick Press, 112 pp., ages 8-12), by Frank Cottrell Boyce, explores ground (the steppes of Mongolia, serious issues of immigration) not often the topic of books for young readers.
The story begins in Liverpool, England, when two boys appear on the school playground. The younger may be dangerous, in need of calming. Older brother Chingis announces that they are nomads, newly arrived from Mongolia. In class the boys sit next to Julie, the book’s narrator. At the insistence of Chingis, she becomes their Good Guide, their protector to help them navigate this confusing new world.
Illustrated with Polaroids – some that Julie discovers in Chingis’s furry coat left abandoned in the lost and found – the sturdy notebooklike pages of “The Unforgotten Coat” work perfectly with the subject matter. A powerful friendship story? An exotic fantasy? Boyce’s short, funny, touching novel is never what it appears to be. Heartbreaking, compelling, mysterious – it teems with kid appeal.
