Even the most seasoned insurance professional can find it difficult to explain the complexities of the Lloyd's of London insurance market.

But Lloyd's has teamed up with a London-based educational charity and a London-based school to produce a book that explains—in simple terms—how the world's oldest insurance market works.

A class of 8- and 9-year-old children from the Christchurch Primary School in Tower Hamlets joined forces with London-based educational charity Guy Fox History Project Ltd. and Lloyd's to write “How the World REALLY Works: Insurance at Lloyd's of London.”

The book, written in simple English and illustrated with cartoons, traces the origins of the insurance market back to the Great Fire of London in 1666, and Lloyd's beginnings as a coffee house where marine insurance was underwritten.

It explains how policies are underwritten, claims are made, and gives information about the Lloyd's building. The book will be distributed to schools, libraries and community centers in the London area.

As part of the Lloyd's tour, the students got to meet Lloyd's Chief Executive Richard Ward, who had just been to the coffee shop, in the underwriting room.

“This lasting impression has meant that Richard can be identified through the illustrations with a coffee cup in his hand,” Lloyd's said in a statement.