James Berry Book order

Only One of Me is a wonderful collection of the best poems for children from one of the most widely celebrated poets in Britain, James Berry, featuring an introduction by John Agard.

Some people have dresses for every occasion but Afiya needs only one. Her dress records the memories of her childhood, from roses in bloom to pigeons in flight, from tigers at the zoo to October leaves falling. A joyful celebration of a young girl's childhood, written by the late multi-award-winning Jamaican poet James Berry OBE.

Focusing on the life and methods of an executioner, this memoir details James Berry's experiences and innovations in the practice of hanging, particularly the long drop method aimed at minimizing suffering. Berry shares personal accounts of his first execution, various techniques, and reflections on capital punishment. The book also includes contributions from H. Snowden Ward and an introductory essay on Anne Green's execution, providing a historical context to Berry's insights into the moral complexities of his role.

Age range 5 to 9Some people have dresses for every occasion but Afiya needs only one. Her dress records the memories of her childhood, from roses in bloom to pigeons in flight, from tigers at the zoo to October leaves falling.

The story explores the moral conflict faced by Jake, a civil engineer who inadvertently becomes embroiled in a diamond smuggling operation after discovering contraband diamonds in his luggage. Torn between the legal implications and the potential to use the diamonds for a hospital project in Sierra Leone, where his grandfather once served, Jake grapples with his conscience. His choice to prioritize the greater good leads to unexpected consequences, including encounters with two women who assist him as he navigates the dangers posed by the smugglers and law enforcement.

Major retrospective covering five collections published over four decades by James Berry, who came to Britain in 1948 in the first postwar wave of Jamaican emigration.

These poems gives voice to the people who came on the first ships from the Caribbean, whose journeys held strange echoes of earlier sea voyages which had brought ancestors from Africa to the slave plantations. James Berry - from Jamaica - was one of these emigrants, settling in Britain in 1948.