Hello H2O

Only Agard could achieve this – a collection of poems about science which dance and sing, celebrating the magic and mystery of science. From ‘DNA’ – ‘Would it be okay to step on / those chemical rungs / and balance / on spiralling pairs / of nitrogen bases?’ and ‘Photosynthesis’, to microbes and metals – ‘marching, marching to the sound / of their own names: Aurum Argentum Cuprum Ferrum Staunum.’ Agard is the true Poetsonian linking poetry with every area of life, whilst retaining the satirical spirit of the Caribbean calypsonian.

Kitamura’s simple and powerful illustrations are perfectly matched to these lively, loving and humorous poems. At the heart of each poem is science and life. It may be a discovery, a law, a fact or a scientist, but every poem is an inspiration and an invitation to find out more as Galileo does in the poem ‘Daydreaming Galileo’: ‘Don’t you see my eyes turning / the pages of the skies? / I’m busy browsing / the grand book of the universe. / A book I simply can’t put down.’ And, as the helpful notes at the back of the book say, ‘he died at the age of 78, knowing he was right.’

Brilliant!