Meet 12 Coventry icons with our new book.
A city author has released the latest in his range of children’s books celebrating Coventry’s history with ‘Meet the Coventry Kids’; a retelling of the stories behind 12 important local figures.
Etch & Pin owner, Aaron Ashmore, 36, said: “Coventry is known worldwide for producing notable individuals from Sir Frank Whittle to James Starley to The Specials and ‘Meet the Coventry Kids’ shines a spotlight on the fantastic achievements on a handful of these.”
One of the Coventry kids featured in the book is comedian and actor, Guz Khan who said: “I could body-swap with Idris Elba, win the sexiest man in the universe award and fly to Mars with Elon Musk to find alien life which fancied me, but that wouldn’t come close to being included in this book about my hometown.“
The new book launched with a special live-reading with the children of Year 5 at Whittle Academy; a school named after Sir Frank Whittle - one of the twelve people featured in the book.
Lisa Sharratt, Class Teacher at Whittle Academy said: “We were delighted to invite Aaron to the school to read his new book. Our children were enthralled to listen to the book read by the author himself and the visit sparked lots of conversations about the many wonderful people who come from our city.”
The new book is the third Etch & Pin Coventry children's book and follows ‘Lady Godiva's Birthday Suit’; the story of Lady Godiva’s iconic ride through the city and 'Coventry; The Phoenix City' which tells the story of the Coventry Blitz and the destruction and rebuilding of Coventry Cathedral.
Aaron worked with illustrator Jessica Harvey, who lived and worked in the city for over a decade, bringing the Coventry legends to life with hand-drawn imagery.
As with all of their products, Etch & Pin is supporting a local charity and £1 from every book sold will go towards providing books for Positive Youth Foundation who aim to raise the aspirations and life chances of Coventry young people who are facing challenging circumstances.
‘Meet the Coventry Kids’ can be bought on etchandpin.co.uk/CovKidsBook