Pictures tell a thousand words

Captivating photographs taken by two Edge Hill University lecturers are being used to illustrate a new book for disadvantaged readers.

The Unforgotten Coat, which is being launched for World Book Day on 3^rd March, features the work of Carl Hunter, bass player for Liverpool band The Farm and who teaches film and television studies at the University, and Clare Heney, a senior lecturer in media.

Their innovative polaroid images have been used to enhance the book which has been written by British screenwriter and novelist Frank Cottrell Boyce.

Carl, who has worked with Frank on a number of projects in the past, most notably the movie Grow Your Own, explained: "Frank was asked to write the book and he thought it would be a perfect opportunity for Clare and I to illustrate it with photographs. The story is based on two Mongolian boys who enrich the lives of schoolchildren in Bootle before they are deported. Twenty years later, a girl who remembers the boys decides to visit her old school before it is demolished and finds one of their coats in lost property. Inside she finds an exercise book with pictures they had taken. She realises that the pictures though were not of the exotic land of Mongolia, as the boys claimed, but images from Bootle, and our pictures depict this.

"Frank would give us parts of the story and we would have to think up images that would illustrate the words. Other times we'd take a fascinating photograph and then Frank would work it into the story. He's a great collaborator and generous with ideas and time. It was creatively challenging but we really enjoyed it. My favourite image is one of Clare's, the eagle perched on the arm of a Mongolian boy at sunset. In actual fact, we created this one by using my arm wrapped in my daughter's friend's, old sheepskin coat, with a cut-out paper eagle taped to the jacket at a sunset in Seaforth. Or another one is where the boys talk about how the flowers are gigantic in their country. We re-create this using an Iris against a backdrop of dolls furniture to give this same visual impression.

"This was a great project to work on and I'm looking forward to seeing the children's faces when they read it."

The project was initiated by The Reader Organisation, who works continuously to promote the value of shared reading, highlighting the important connection between literature, individual wellbeing and social cohesion.

They find people who are not readers, such as prisoners, children in care or the elderly who have lost their connection with literature, people who are isolated, lonely, or who could otherwise benefit from reading books, and bring them together for the simple pleasure of reading aloud and discussing the thoughts and feelings that are evoked.

The book will be launched on World Book Day, which aims to encourage children to explore the pleasures of books and reading by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own.

To mark the occasion, Carl, Clare and Frank will be taking a group of disadvantaged children on a train ride to London on the day, where they will be read the book on the journey. Edge Hill University students will film the day's events.

Approximately 50,000 copies of the book are to be given away free before it becomes a hardback and goes on sale in September.

To coincide with the day on 3^rd March, a ‘readathon' of the book will take place at the Bluecoat Chambers in School Lane, Liverpool. The book will be brought to life at this chain-reading event by book lovers of all ages.