Half-Caste and Other Poems

Description

One of the the UK's top performance poets explores issues of race and identity with a mixture of new poems and old favourites for teenagers. 'Half-Caste' is one of the poems on the AQA GCSE English syllabus and thus studied by every student following this major syllabus. As a consequence it and its author are among the best-known in secondary schools. John Agard is also very active touring England with GCSE POETRY LIVE, day-long events of poetry discussion and performance reaching some 80,000 students each year. HALF-CASTE AND OTHER POEMS is aimed directly at the audience for GCSE POETRY LIVE. Built around this seminal poem, it is a mixture of old and new poems that address core issues and experiences for young people. Race and cultural identity is a primary theme and shapes the book. But although he includes poems such as 'Checking Out Me History' about the way the black perspective on history has been ignored, John is just as interested in celebrating the richness of human diversity in poems full of wit, compassion and hope. There are poems about violence, the environment, relationships, politics and grief, alongside

John Agard was born in Guyana and emigrated to Britain in 1977. He has worked as an actor and a performer with a jazz group and spent several years with the Commonwealth Institute, travelling all over Britain giving talks, performances and workshops. He has visited literally thousands of schools. His poem 'Half-caste' is on the AQA English GCSE syllabus, and every year he tours the country performing with other top poets for GCSE students. His children's poetry includes WE ANIMALS WOULD LIKE A WORD WITH YOU, POINTS OF VIEW WITH PROFESSOR PEEKABOO, and most recently EINSTEIN, THE GIRL WHO HATED MATHS and HELLO H2O, poems about maths and science respectively. All these titles have been in collaboration with the illustrator Satoshi Kitamura He lives in Sussex and is married to Grace Nichols, herself a respected Caribbean poet. They have a daughter.

He explores issues of race and identity, violence and grief, love and life. -- Carousel 20060301 A performance poet, Agard uses rhyme, repetition and refrains that make his work sing...Skilful use of humour to get his serious points across. -- The Book Horn Inc 20051128 A fine introduction to the ... poet's work for older children... This powerful plea for tolerance ... By turns playful and sincere, buoyant and thoughtful, his humanism is the thread that runs through these selections and reaches out to readers of all backgrounds... Agard eloquently voices a universal concern as he describes 'stepping in a big ship/not knowing how long the journey/or that you're stepping into history'. -- School Library Jounral-US Review 20060101 Normally poetry is not our thing, but we took the time to really read many of the poems in this book. ('For the Record')! had only 27 words but rhymed well, was amusing and has stuck in our brains. -- Teen Titles (Edinburgh City Council) 20060501