Funny, thought-provoking, and bursting with curiosity, Wise Up! Wise Down! is a lively conversation between two internationally known poets, illustrated by acclaimed artist Satoshi Kitamura.How can laughter be more powerful than a sword? Why do days have names but not weeks? And do pigeons ever get a craving for cake? Two friends, esteemed poets John Agard and JonArno Lawson, take us on an inspiring, hilarious, and wondrous journey through poetry, asking q...

In the title story, Inspector Dreadlock Holmes and his sidekick Rudeyard Fly are sent for by the Criminal Investigation Department of Middleham-by-Sea - a little town known for tea shops, pet shops, and florists - in short, a rustic retreat for naughty weekends. Keen to kick-start their diversity policy, the Department sends for two Black cops who see this as a chance to prove their cross-cultural mettle and solve the brutal attack on Lord Montagu, a controversial political figure found un...

Internationally acclaimed poet John Agard recalls the journey made by the thousands of Caribbean children and their families who traveled to Britain between 1948 and 1971 as part of the Windrush generation.With one last hug, Windrush child says goodbye to his grandmother and the shores of his Caribbean home before embarking on an adventure across the ocean—under a sky full of promise—to an unknown horizon. With sensitivity and tender lyricism, world-renowned and mu...

In these two animal stories from the Caribbean, find out in the first why Tiger wanted to get rid of all the other animals and keep the jungle for himself and what clever Anansi did about it, and in the second how shy Owl nearly lost everything because he didn't have the courage to show his face.Topaz/Band 13 books offer longer and more demanding reads for children to investigate and evaluate.Text type: Two stories from another culture.The feelings roller ...

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, Rhian...

A tender, moving and joyous story from one of our nation's premier poets, John AgardFrom above earth, from above sky,from below earth, from under water,come all you little personscome exactly as you are.Come little bird person, come little bee person, come little tree person - little persons from all over the world join together to celebrate the dance of life and love in this stunning poem from John Agard. Stunningly illustrate...

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...

John Agard has been broadening the canvas of British poetry for the past 35 years with his mischievous, satirical fables which overturn all our expectations. And he has just received the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry from Her Majesty the Queen. In this new symphonic collection, Travel Light Travel Dark, he casts his unique spin on the intermingling strands of British history, and leads us into metaphysical and political waters. Cross-cultural connections are played out in a variety of voic...

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. In The Coming of the Little Green Man, his eighth Bloodaxe collection, we enter a world of play and parable, charged with contemporary resonance. Which box should the little green man tick on the question of identity? Will the little green man survive as a minority of one in a multiracial London? What if the little green man volunteer...

John Agard has been broadening the canvas of British poetry for the past 35 years with his mischievous, satirical fables which overturn all our expectations. In this new collection, he puts on the mask of Moses Maimonides (aka the Rambam), the medieval Jewish rabbi and physician who wrote his Guide of the Perplexed in Arabic at a time when Judaism, Islam and Christianity cross-fertilised each other in Moorish Spain.Now the ghost of Maimonides returns to the contemporary wo...

Funny, thought-provoking, and bursting with curiosity, Wise Up! Wise Down! is a lively conversation between two internationally known poets.How can laughter be more powerful than a sword? Why do days have names but not weeks? And do pigeons ever get a craving for cake? Two friends, esteemed poets John Agard and JonArno Lawson, take us on an inspiring, hilarious, and wondrous journey through poetry, asking questions and att...

Funny, thought-provoking, and bursting with curiosity, Wise Up! Wise Down! is a lively conversation between two internationally known poets.How can laughter be more powerful than a sword? Why do days have names but not weeks? And do pigeons ever get a craving for cake? Two friends, esteemed poets John Agard and JonArno Lawson, take us on an inspiring, hilarious, and wondrous journey through poetry, asking questions and att...