Young Inferno - Softcover

John Agard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1847801099 ISBN 13: 9781847801098

Publisher: Frances Lincoln, 2012

Synopsis

Can our hoodie hero make it through nine circles of Hell and back again Will he find love with his soulmate, Beatrice Discover the city of Dis where everybody disses everybody. Meet Frankenstein, the lovesick bouncer with the bling-bling. Come face to face with the Furies, a gang of snake-haired females in T-shirts. Prepare for a host of gluttons, bigots and plunderers from the world of history and politics. John Agard fires Dante's Inferno into the 21st century in a red-hot retelling, with wicked artwork from Satoshi Kitamura.

About this title

About the Author

John Agard is one of the most popular and highly-regarded poets writing in Britain today. His poem Half-Caste is on the GCSE syllabus and he performs at Poetry Live events throughout the country. His adult collection, We Brits, was shortlisted for the 2007 British Book Awards Decibel Writer of the Year Award. His book for teens, The Young Inferno, won the CLPE Poetry Prize Award in 2009, was nominated for both the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Awards in 2010 and shortlisted for the 2010 UKLA Award. Goldilocks on CCTV, his poetry collection for 11 plus, inspired by fairy tales, is on the 2012 CLPE Award shortlist. John lives in Lewes, Sussex, with his wife the poet Grace Nichols. Satoshi Kitamura was born in Tokyo and has always loved reading comics and illustrated novels. With no formal training, he started work in advertising as an artist and came to London. He has written and illustrated 20 of his own books and illustrated many more, as well as translating children's books.for the Japanese market. He exhibits his work in London and has won a number of awards, among them the Mother Goose Award, Bronze Winner and a shortlisting for the Smartie Prize, a National Art Library Award and The New York Times Notable Book of the Year Award. WHEREABOUTS: London, Japan

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 8 Up—The narrative poems in this short book are accessible and have important things to say about the state of the human race. "Off 2 Hell with teacher Aesop" reads a text message the hoodie-wearing protagonist composes in his head for his parents. As in a scary movie, he awakens in a strange and frightening forest. A dark man appears and introduces himself as the tale-teller Aesop: he is to be the teen's escort through Hell (much like Dante used the poet Virgil as his guide). As the pair travels through the Circles of Hell, they see the sins of mankind. They see the gluttons forced to stuff their faces for eternity and those who were indifferent stung by wasps and flies. They also see scientists and artists such as Einstein, Homer, and Euclid forced for eternity to repeat some aspect of their creation. The pair visits the city of Dis, where "everybody disses everybody." As our hero travels through Hell, he is trying to find his Good Fairy, his Beatrice. Some British terms might make a few sections a little tricky for American students, but savvy readers should be able to figure them out. The scribbled, heavy-lined black ink and watercolor illustrations convey exactly the right mood for a book about a modern-day expedition into Hell. This will be a great book to pair with a discussion about Dante's Inferno and/or poetic structure.—Heather M. Campbell, formerly at Philip S. Miller Library, Castle Rock, CO
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About this edition

• Publisher: Frances Lincoln
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1847801099
• ISBN 13: 9781847801098
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 80