Let Me Tell You. Fairport: The New York State Literary Center, 1994.

Kurt Cobain 1967 � 1994. Fairport: The New York State Literary Center, 1994.

John Sylar. Black Men. Fairport: The New York State Literary Center, 1997.

�What is it like growing up in America�s ghettos? Nineteen year old John Sylar shows us in a way we have likely never experienced before.�

Education Matters, February 1999 on Black Men

What Are We Supposed to Do With Kids Like Me, Throw Us Away? Fairport: The New York State Literary Center, 1998.

From Us To You. Fairport: The New York State Literary Center, 1999.

Our Lives Do or Die. Fairport: The New York State Literary Center, 1999.

�To all the people who read this book, we are trying to tell you what we Rochester kids see. Do all of the people of Monroe County see what we see? They don�t live where we live. We want to stop seeing what we are seeing. We want you to see it and to get involved and stop overlooking what is going on in our community.�

Leroy Banks on Our Lives Do or Die

Young Souls Speaking. Fairport: The New York State Literary Center, 1999.

�You have never heard of us or our poetry. Right now we all live in St. Joseph�s Villa in Rochester, New York. This book is about out lives. When you read our poems think about them. After you finish our book compare our lives to your life. What we write is from our hearts, our minds, our streets, our blocks, from our souls.�

Regenal on Young Souls Speaking

Will My Chance Come Along, Anthology of Writing by Young People Who Participated in Communication Project Residencies. Fairport: The New York State Literary Center, 2000.

�We are young minds with stories to tell, hardcore truths that are not heard much today.�

Sam on Will My Chance Come Along

Michael. Dear God. Fairport: The New York State Literary Center, 2000.

�There is knowledge in this book. There is heartbreaking knowledge.�

Dwayne on Dear God.

A Child With Tears In His Eyes. Fairport: The New York State Literary Center, 2001.

�I, like, so many of the young men here, was raised with nothing. We all had dreams, but until now we never took the time to think and we never took the time to write our thoughts and dreams down.

Life in the Bronx for me was darkness and silence and pain. It was growing up wishing God would come to save me.

We are sending out a message to everyone who thinks negatively of kids who are incarcerated. We want to succeed in life. Please don�t believe because we have failed we will fail again We are putting our thoughts and ideas out to show you we have dreams and we have talent. We feel. We want you to catch the tears of youth.�

A on A Child With Tears In His Eyes

J. I Saw It All:  A Book for Children. Fairport: The New York State Literary Center, 2002.

T.  Ghetto Child: A Book For Children. Fairport: The New York State Literary Center, 2002.

C. A Big Soul In A Little Body: A Book For Children. Fairport: The New York State Literary Center, 2003.

K. A Picture of A Shattered Mind: A Book For Children. Fairport: The New York State Literary Center, 2003.

S. To Be Poor: A Book For Children. Fairport: The New York State Literary Center, 2003.

Emmanuel. The Eye of The Hood. Fairport: The New York State Literary Center, 2004.

�Poetry to me is the eye of the hood because sometimes our young minds can�t express everything we feel, and we use hip-hop and poetry like an eye for everyone else to see and try to understand what we feel.�

          Emmanuel

Glendy Cruz. The Confessions of My Soul. Fairport: The New York State Literary Center, 2004.

�I dedicate this book to anyone who believes in the word of poetry.�

Starmeisha Jones. Fear The Rebel. Fairport: The New York State Literary Center, 2004.

�I want to live. I want to believe I am somebody.�

For more information or to order a book ($7.00 per book),
please contact ddavis@nyslc.org or 585 / 223-0784.