Ayazi-Hashjin, Sherry,
Rap and Hip Hop, The voice of a generation
, The Rosen Publishing Group: New York, New York, 1999. This book describes the history of African American music and roots of rap. It gives the reader a view of rap music today and where it is headed.
Eldon, Dan
The Journey is the Destination
, Chronicle Books, 1997. Eldon's book gives kids the chance to keep a cool journal that is part diary, part ticket stubs, part photography, part watercolors, and part collage. A great way to keep a record of high school! Kids love it!
Franco, Betsy, editor,
You Hear Me? Poems and writing by teenage boys
, Candlewick Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2000. Ms. Franco has managed to collect a nice sampling of writing by teenage boys that our teenage boys will be able to relate to and be inspired by. The poems are about modern day urban life and the essays show that even tough kids want to write.
Harrison, Sabrina Ward,
The Art of Becoming Yourself
, Random House: New York, 2000. A private journal of one woman's attempt to understand herself through art and poetry
Kaufman, Alan The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry, Thunder's Mouth Press,
New York, New York © 1999.
The Outlaw Bible of Poetry
is a collection of poems that are rebellious. They will reach that student you thought was unreachable. They will inspire and touch you and your students by their simplicity, free spirit nature, and honest recording of the chaos of the world that surrounds us - now!
Shakur, Tupac
The Rose That Grew from Concrete
Pocket Books, a division of Simon and Schuster, Inc. New York, New York. It is a collection of Tupac's poems that he wrote before he was famous. They are not lyrics to his songs. They are heartfelt poems of love, solitude, death, fear and loss. This is a book that does not stay on my desk for long. Highly recommended!