AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL ANNOUNCE JOHN INSPIRED PICTURE BOOK

Human rights charity’s latest book project pairs the lyrics of Lennon’s song Imagine with illustrations of a pigeon spreading peace to all birds

He’s one of the most famous songwriters ever, and now the music legend, peace campaigner and fan of very round glasses, John Lennon has had another role added to his already astonishing list of achievements: picture book author.

 

A draft cover of Imagine, to be published in 2017 by Amnesty International. Photograph: Amnesty International

Human rights charity Amnesty International is pairing the lyrics of John Lennon with the work of award-winning illustrator and artist, Jean Jullien, to create an illustrated version of Lennon’s iconic song, Imagine.

The picture book aims to share more information about the work that Amnesty International do around the world, as well as raising money for the charity. For every copy sold, a donation will be made to Amnesty International.

Originally written by John Lennon in 1971, the song Imagine sets out Lennon’s dream of a peaceful world, where there is no war or suffering. Lennon was a passionate campaigner for peace, alongside his wife and fellow musician, Yoko Ono.

Amnesty’s new book takes takes Lennon’s lyrics and pairs them with Jean Jullien’s illustrated tale of a young pigeon’s mission to spread peace to all birds. This isn’t the first time Jullien has leant his pen to humanitarian causes – he is the illustrator behind children’s books such as This is not a Book and Ralf. He also designed the Peace for Paris symbol, created after the Paris attacks last year.

The announcement comes after an Amnesty poll last week revealed that half of parents think that reading a book is the best way to develop empathy in children. Nicky Parker, a publisher at Amnesty, said that picture books are an important way to help young people understand humanitarian problems around the world: “We value their power to develop empathy and give children the confidence to stand up on behalf of others,” Parker said.

The book will be published by Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, but you might have to wait a little while to read it – the book won’t be published until September 2017.