John Agard

Books contain countless tales—but what if Book told its own story? From clay tablets to e-readers, here is a quirky, kid-friendly look at the book. Books are one of humankind’s greatest forms of expression, and now Book, in a witty, idiosyncratic voice, tells us the inside story. A wonderfully eccentric character with strong opinions and a poetic turn of phrase, Book tells of a journey from papyrus scrolls to medieval manuscripts to printed paper and beyond—pondering, along the way, many bookish things, including the evolution of the alphabet, the library (known to Egyptians as "the healing place of the soul"), and even book burning. With bold, black-and-white illustrations by Neil Packer, Book is a captivating work of nonfiction by one of England's leading poets.

Book

Presents a collection of poems on the theme of racism, including the poem "Half-caste.

Half-caste and other poems

My Name Is Book

Piet Grobler

A Poem for Our Planet

Coyote's Soundbite

Sarah Davies

Designed to be used before or after watching Poetry in Action: The Recital, this guide offers a print version of the poem and contextual information about John Agard's 'Checking Out Me History'.

Checking Out Me History by John Agard: Context and Poem

John Agard has been broadening the canvas of British poetry for the past 40 years with his mischievous, satirical fables which overturn all our expectations. His ninth Bloodaxe collection, Border Zone, explores a far-reaching canvas of British/Caribbean transatlantic connections, sweeping across centuries and continents. His border territory ranges from Love in a Sceptred Isle, a novella-like narrative poem of a romance between Barbados-born photographer, Victor, and Welsh librarian, Rihannon, told with lyrical tenderness and thought-provoking wit, to Casanova the Philosopher, a sequence of sonnets in the voice of the legendary Venetian philosophically observing 18th-century English ways in a tongue-in-cheek memoir and travelogue. This is a diverse collection where the thought-provokingly mischievous, bawdy and elegaic rub shoulders alongside the sequence The Plants Are Staying Put - with the poet turning overnight lockdown gardener - as well as calypso poems, where the Guyana-born winner of the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry puts on his hat as 'poetsonian', a term he coined in the 80s in tribute to the inventive lyrics of the calypsonian, a crucial strand of Agard's varied, innovative, and often satirical poetic output.

Border Zone

Kitap

Bob Cattell

Calypso and cricket come together in the Island's Carnival week and Riccardo Small is torn between his two loves. He has been chosen to sing in the Calypso Monarch Final, competing with the best singers on the Island. But his team mates at Calypso Cricket Club are playing the most important game in their history on the same day. Amidst the Carnival pan bands, the masqueraders and the stick-fighters Riccardo discovers why the singing competition is called 'Calypso War'. It's tough going on the cricket field too - with injuries, fires and disappearing players producing more than enough puzzles for captain Bashy to solve?

Shine On, Butter-Finger

With one last hug, Windrush chid waves goodbye to his Caribbean home and sets sail across the ocean to Britain. In this powerful picture book, full of hope and promise, celebrated poet John Agard and illustrator Sophie Bass movingly evoke the journey made by children and their families as part of the Windrush Generation.

John Agard's Windrush Child

There she was on the news, Miss Goody Two-Shoes, Caught on CCTV. Don't look so shocked! Of course you know who - Who else but Goldilocks? Here are 30 amazing poems which are rooted in the world of fairy tale and legend. Wickedly witty, deliciously subversive and utterly modern, the poems are also affectionate and big-hearted tributes to the original tales and characters that inspired them. This is a sizzling new collection from a master poet, portrayed with verce by Satoshi Kitamura's extraordinary black-and-white illustrations.

Goldilocks on CCTV

Grace Nichols

This eclectic anthology brings together poems passed from mouth to mouth, generation to generation, from all over the world: Russia, India, Jamaica, Vietnam. There are schoolyard chants, sea shanties, work-songs, riddles, spells and curses and much more.

Oral Poems from Around the World

From Mouth to Mouth

A collection of romantic poetry by the West Indian poet John Agard, whose previous works include Mangoes and Bullets, and the 1982 recipient of the Casa de las Americas Prize, Man to Pan.

Lovelines for a Goat-born Lady

Mangoes and jelly coconut, garter snakes and speckled frogs. These are some of the many vivid memories of a Caribbean childhood from poets such as Valerie Bloom, Faustin Charles, Telcine Turner and Dionne Brand.

Poems from 13 Caribbean Poets

A Caribbean Dozen

Divided into five sections, each illustrated by a different artist, this collection of poetry conjures the sights and sounds of the Caribbean; the experience of living there - and of leaving for other lands. It is a companion to 'A Caribbean Dozen'.

A Collection of Caribbean Poems

Under the Moon and Over the Sea

Shona has always loved words and for many years she has written down any strange word she finds to create her very own thesaurus! When her and her classmates learn that some languages are dying out, Miss Bates tasks them with becoming top-class word detectives, proving to themselves and their families that there are many beautiful languages still thriving, even within their classroom.

Shona, Word Detective

Korky Paul

This combination of off-beat humor and wonderfully funny illustrations is sure to be a big hit with preadolescent kids. Rhino and Hippo are always boasting about their muscles, each convinced that he's stronger than the other. It takes a brainy, bouncy Brer Rabbit to trick them into the greatest tug-o-war contest ever.

Brer Rabbit and the Great Tug-O-War

Calypso and cricket come together in the Island's Carnival week and Riccardo Small is torn between his two loves. He has been chosen to sing in the Calypso Monarch Final, competing with the best singers on the Island. But his team mates at Calypso Cricket Club are playing the most important game in their history on the same day. Amidst the Carnival pan bands, the masqueraders and the stick-fighters Riccardo discovers why the singing competition is called 'Calypso War'. It's tough going on the cricket field too - with injuries, fires and disappearing players producing more than enough puzzles for captain Bashy to solve???

Shine on Butter-Finger

We Animals Would Like a Word With You takes a humorous look at the human condition through poetry written by our animal friends - with a little help from renowned poet, John Agard.

We Animals Would Like a Word with You

Cathie Felstead

A Caribbean dozen

Written by an author who has been subverting British poetry with his mischievous, satirical fables, this title plays havoc with biology and makes a monkey out of Darwinian evolution, on the occasion of the bicentenary of Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of The origin of species.

John Agard

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