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Wise Up! Wise Down!: A Poetic Conversation

Author John Agard, Jonarno Lawson

Illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura

Hardcover

$18.99 US

Candlewick

5-1/16"W x 7-13/16"H | 20 oz | 40 per carton

On sale Mar 04, 2025 | 144 Pages | 9781536238990

Age 8-12 years | Grades 3-7

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Children's > Non-fiction

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 questions and attempting answers as they discover that life really is forever and ever an adventure. Comprising more than seventy-five poems written in a call-and-response format, with each poem having a reply from the other poet, Wise Up! Wise Down! is sure to inspire all readers to find humor in every day.

Stimulating exchanges, often veering off in unexpected directions.
—Kirkus Reviews

John Agard is a poet, playwright, and short story writer who grew up in Guyana, where his love of language was sparked by listening to cricket commentaries on the radio. He is the author of Windrush Child: The Tale of a Caribbean Child Who Faced a New Horizon, illustrated by Sophie Bass. He has won many prizes, including a CLPE Poetry Award, the Queen’s Medal for Poetry, and a BookTrust Lifetime Achievement Award. He has been a writer in residence at the BBC; Southbank Centre, in London; and the National Maritime Museum, in London. John Agard lives in England.

JonArno Lawson is an award-winning poet and writer who is the author of many books for children and adults, including Over the Shop and A Day for Sandcastles, both illustrated by Qin Leng. He has received the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry four times and has won the Governor General’s Literary Award. JonArno Lawson has taught children’s poetry at Simmons College in Boston and lives in Toronto with his family.

Satoshi Kitamura is the creator of more than twenty picture books and has illustrated books by John Agard, Colin McNaughton, Hiawyn Oram, and others. The illustrator of a New York Times Book Review Notable Children’s Book of the Year, Satoshi Kitamura was presented with a Mother Goose Award for “most exciting newcomer to British illustration,” and his books have been translated into multiple languages. He lives in Japan.

John Agard View titles by John Agard

Jonarno Lawson View titles by Jonarno Lawson

Satoshi Kitamura View titles by Satoshi Kitamura

Hello, out there!
I’m John Agard.
I’m supposed to be a poet.
I’ll do my best to live up to it!
JA

And I’m the other JA—
JonArno Lawson.
Be on your guard with Agard,
and with Lawson, use caution.
JL

Believe Me, Coyotes
Two sharp-fanged fawn-colored
    messengers stand ready
at the bars of my back gate.
What news have you brought me, wily duo?

Am I seeing double,
or is fate
just doubling my trouble?

Either way, I only have room in my mind
    for one of you.
But which one?
The one who draws me in or the one who
    scares me off?

On the page it’s different.
Here on the page
I can give you equal attention.

You can both appear as you appeared in the
    dry grass

beside my gate. And I can even tell you
    apart now:
one with a hurt paw, the other with curious fur

carrying news, which, once you saw me,
became unimportant.
Anyway, you had only one unspeakable word
    between you

and even if you had been able to say it
I couldn’t have written it.
Besides, if I say

who would believe it (except maybe my
    friend John)?
That I saw two coyotes
whose shadow turned two into one.

JL

UNBELIEVABLE
My friend JonArno,
who (as it so happens)
lives in Toronto,

discovered out of the blue,
not one but two, yes, two
coyotes in his back garden.

Lucky devil! In my English
garden, what do I discover?
No less than a posse of bugs,

slugs, wood lice, snails,
the odd glowworm,
in short, creepy-crawlies!

All leaving their gooey trail!
But since coyotes are known to be
tricksters who don’t mind a lie,

just you wait, next time I send
that JonArno an email,
I’ll say, guess what, mate?

Beside my bed of roses,
right out of the summer blue,
I spotted not one, but two

hippos. Yes, two. And the way
they struck up their poses
for a selfie was unbelievable!
Don’t you believe me?

JA

Questions
If I perch
in a cage
am I a bird?

If I lie
on a page
am I a word?

If I hang
from a branch
am I a fruit?

If I hide
in the earth
am I a root?

O answers
are folly
when questions bring bliss.

Without questions, can I exist?

JA

Should I Be Me?
Who’s who?
I’m me.
You’re you.
We’re we.
He’s he.
She’s she.

So tell us
what to do—

Should he be she?
Should she be he?
Should I be me
or you?

JL