See student work in action
Over the past 18 years, we've had the privilege of publishing over 12,000 student authors, across more than 850 publications. Each publication serves as a powerful reminder that everyone has a story to tell. We encourage educators who are interested in bringing a publication project into their classroom for the first time to use these publications not only as accessible mentor texts, but as inspiration for instruction and curriculum design.
Browse a selection of our work — organized by genre —below, and to speak with our team about initiating a publication project with your students, reach out to us!
Browse a selection of our work — organized by genre —below, and to speak with our team about initiating a publication project with your students, reach out to us!
ARGUMENT & INQUIRY
For Every Voice, A Different Truth
In this unsparing and honest approach to Advisory, 10th grade NYC public school students are positioned as experts on the big issues facing today’s youth. By engaging their peers, parents, educators, and community members in dialogue, students at the Institute for Media and Writing at the Bayard Rustin Educational Complex created a solutions-based book that both informs and confronts these challenges by offering us resources and hope. |
Pr(i)mary Sources
Pr(i)mary Sources ventures into the lives of high school students as they design inquiry-based research projects that investigate complex topics, such as police brutality, drug abuse, and gentrification--realities that impact their NYC communities. Drawing from scholarly articles, interviews with community members, and their own experiences, this anthology challenges traditional means and motivations for conducting research in the classroom. |
The Sensational Super Scholars
At Claremont International High School, 11th grade students share their creative and unique take on some dark and difficult problems in the world. Through research and the creation of strong, resilient superheroes who defend the vulnerable and fight for change, comes a book of hope and solutions for social transformation. Read it and find out how they would fix some of our biggest challenges. |
Small Schools, Big Questions
What does student voice mean and where should it come from? Seniors of the first graduating class of Pablo Neruda Academy, answered this question by investigating the small schools movement. After conducting research and fieldwork and reflecting on their own experiences, students wrote compelling pieces to community leaders that detailed their findings. |
Speaking Our Piece
With their second publication, the writers of Morris Academy for Collaborative Studies decided to explore the systemic injustices that have had profound consequences on their day-to-day lives. Captured in powerfully worded executive orders and moving political manifestos, Speaking Our Piece, is in some ways a portrait of the ways in which policy impacts real people. |
Yesterday's Issues, Today's Perspectives, Tomorrow's Lessons
This collection of oral histories revolves around eight historic events and the controversies that surround them. By exploring these issues students’ own “new historical perspectives,” these 10th graders break away from teenage topics and to turn their questions out into the world. |
EXAMINING SELF
Becoming Ourselves
This collection of narratives provides a unique glimpse into the diverse perspectives about community, culture and self. Join the students of FDA II, PS36, and Heritage High School as they take you on a journey of self-discovery. |
Building Bridges, Crossing to Survival
Building Bridges is a collection of poetry, personal essays and stories written by students at East River Academy, an alternative school on Rikers Island, that serves incarcerated individuals as they await trial, sentencing or release from jail. These pieces are a testament to the authors' remarkable resilience in the face of struggle and their efforts to survive, succeed and forge new beginnings. This book offers a window into the hearts and minds of young adults incarcerated in our country today. |
Confessions of an Ex-Freshman
The first year of high school hands students sizable changes and surfaces many questions. Thankfully, the 10th grade authors of this book lived to tell the tales of their freshman year, and offer incoming freshmen anecdotes and advice. |
Girls are NOT Pink
In a multi-genre text collaboration listen to the vibrant voices of nine young women in New York City who share their hopes, experiences and what motivates them to succeed. You will remember them and their words long after you close the pages of this book. |
Obstacles, Not an Abyss
Identity and perspectives are shaped by individual experiences. For the 11th grade students at Claremont International High School, their young lives have been anything but ordinary. Each and every one of them has traveled from a distant land and has somehow found themselves on the 4th floor of Taft Campus in the Bronx, New York. Listen as they share their stories of fear, triumphs, challenges and relationships. |
The Truth Unfolded
What happens when literature is combined with deep personal reflection? Academy of Young Writers 10th graders reflect on the Crucible and their own challenges to gain new understanding of the text and themselves. As you peruse their insightful accounts, re-imagine the teaching of a classic text in your classroom. |
INTERDISCIPLINARY & TEST PREP
The Amazing World of Geology
Girls get creative with Geology in this innovative text that combines creative writing and science. Who knows what force, fossil, wave or mineral will show up in a poem, play, image or metaphor once the students from The Young Women’s Leadership School of Brooklyn get hold of it? Brace yourself for some innovative learning which ultimately became group presentations by these imaginative 7th graders! |
Beacon Science
This third volume of Beacon Science showcases the scientific thinking that Beacon Seniors are capable of. These authors have asked and pursued scientific questions that span many scientific disciplines, and their projects range from pomeron exchange to carbon nanotubes. |
Heroes and Villains
Because the tenth grade students’ Global History Regents Exam in June requires students’ writing to move from description to evaluation, the overarching goal of this project was to capture the spirit of reform throughout history.In many ways this project taught students the tools and skills necessary to develop analytical and evaluative skills through writing as they analyzed various historical figures through the lens of social reform. |
Interview: Using Artifacts to Explore Our Mentors and Ourselves
An inquisitive ninth grade class dug deep to find the stories hidden among the cherished artifacts of their mentors. A vibrant world of Social Studies came to life when these students-turned-archaeologists discovered how a letter to a father, a scarf from a distant land, and an heirloom pendant are historical capsules that can reveal our most personal and collective experiences – that an artifact from the past has the power to transport the beliefs, ideals, and principles we hope to preserve for the coming generations. |
A Sine of the Times
How can we create connections between disciplines as educators? In this unique project collaboration between an art and math teacher, 11th graders at the New York City Lab School got to play with equations and see the possible physical forms they take to make artwork. The result was students who see themselves as artists AND mathematicians. As you read their reflections, you’ll see deep discoveries in both subjects, and learning that goes beyond just mastering content. A win-win for everyone! |
Turning the Periodic Table
By using rap as a tool in the classroom, Turning the (Periodic) Table enables students and teachers to re-imagine what it means to “prep” for standardized exams. Students were invited to grapple with chemistry content in new ways, setting a literal stage for a diversity of experiences and learning styles. Students will love studying from this informative, by kids, for kids Chemistry Regents review. |
LIVING & LEARNING IN NYC
Chelsea Streetscapes
Chelsea Streetscapes brings together a page from each students’ sketchbook to create a multi-faceted picture of the Chelsea. As the students took to the streets, they were tasked with what their teacher described as “the imperative to find the particular.” Writing along with sketching became the avenue through which they considered, responded and tried to make sense of what they discovered. |
The City That Stays Up Way Past Its Bedtime
You've just arrived, clutching your bags to your chest, zigzagging around pedestrians, staring wide-eyed at the chaos around you. Welcome to 6th grade. And New York City. Whether you're a tourist entering the big city or a kid entering the big leagues of secondary school, you know this feeling; it's called "lost." Fortunately, we here at NEST+m. Explore this delightful guidebook that recounts and explains how to successfully navigate uncharted territory. |
Coring the Apple
Embodying the heart of the SPI philosophy--student as writer, student as expert--Coring the Apple is a Zagat-like rating of “Best-Of” New York City. Expect to be transported through as many places, moods and perspectives as there are eight-grade authors. |
Cracks in the Sidewalk
Cracks in the Sidewalk: A Review of Harlem Through the Eyes of Its Youth is the product of a collaboration between the Student Press Initiative and Heritage High School in East Harlem. Part of a classroom study of narrative writing, this book offers a glimpse into the lives of 9th grade students growing up in Harlem. |
Navigating NYC
See New York City through the eyes of some of its youngest experts in this part guide book, part personal account of the NYC’s lesser known gems. Whether it’s a movie or a sandwich, let these 5th, 6th and 7th graders from PS 36 and FDA 2 take you exploring through their special spots and hear their voices recount adventures worth having. |
Streetwise
The Writers of Art and Music may live in New York City, but they consider their homes to be on certain streets. The street itself is a major character in the narratives they tell on the pages of this book. As a compilation, the stories of Streetwise will reveal the multiple facets of each of four New York City boroughs: Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan. Our students will be your tour guides, showing you how a single street has a secret life of its own. |
PERSONAL NARRATIVES
If It Wasn't For You
The ninth grade students at Manhattan Business Academy, a new public high school in New York City, explored their own answers to the question: Who has made the greatest impact on your life? In a collection of personal memoir essays, they reflect upon the people in their lives who have guided, supported and taught them invaluable life lessons. In turn, it is their hope that this book—and the lessons shared inside—might serve as a mentor of sorts for those who read it. |
Imprints: The Moments that Led Us Here
Over one hundred student authors from Hoboken High School contributed to this collection of personal narratives about the people who have shaped their lives. Seeking to make their own imprint on their world, this anthology of short stories share who and what influenced them the most, be it a passion, parents, a critical moment, or their heritage. A rich deposit to draw from for personal essays! |
Memories of the Past
In a compelling window into the immigrant experience, ENL students at Morris Academy for Collaborative Study explore linguistic oppression, immigration and social justice in memoirs, letters and personal accounts to express unique and powerful stories of daily life. Prepare to be moved by greater insight and understanding of what young people face in transition and as first-generation immigrants. |
Our Mosaics
Fourth and fifth graders from four schools in Harlem transport us to a place inside ourselves—a place where we can see the world we traverse through their inquisitive and sincere eyes. |
Strength, Unspoken
Strength, Unspoken shares Hoboken Charter School’s 9th and 10th grade students’ untold stories of experiencing loss and creating personal strength. It invites you to be comforted, to be inspired, and, most importantly, to celebrate how powerful and strong these students, and their words, can be. |
Your World, Our Stories
Your World, Our Stories is a celebration of the diversity at Claremont International High School. These are stories of heartbreak, courage, strength, family, friendship, migration and transformation. The 11th graders have written to show the world who they are. Travel with these authors as they take you on a journey all over the world through their personal narratives. |
POETRY
Everyday Heroes
This collection of poetry, created by 9th and 10th grade writers at MACS celebrates the every-day hero. Through their words, these students passionately redefine what it means to be heroic by looking at their own stories for moments of courage, sacrifice, and persistence. |
From Where We’re From
Modeled on the “Where I’m From” poem, these writings are rich in imagery and grit as students reflect on the roots and experiences that make them who they are today. |
Illuminating Chaucer
Students from New York City Lab School wrote their own poetic responses to Chaucer’s portrayal of gender and class issues, highlighting the ways in which Chaucer’s entertaining tales betrayed the societal issues of his time. Illuminating Chaucer brings together text, art and music, in a way that we hope inspires and galvanizes others to create-in their own lives, especially and their own classrooms. |
Loose Leaf
This anthology authored by students at NEST+M, offers a glimpse into the lives of middle schoolers. Inside you will find poems and personal essays written with humor, candor, and reflection. |
Over the Counter
The 8th grade students of the New York City Lab School invite you to explore the rich, vast imagination of the youthful spirit through explorations in poetry and inspired prose ranging from the infinite reaches of the cosmic universe to a solitary blade of blood soaked grass dancing in the field of an abandoned battlefield. |
Transitions: From There to Here
Adolescence is a time of significant transitions, and this publication reflects the voices of elementary and middle school students whose poems and narratives touch on a variety of momentous shifts in their lives. |
PROFILES
About Face: Portraits of Activism
A student journalism project in which 12th grade writers profile over 30 social activists in New York City. This book grows out of a 15-week study of the history of social change. This 12th grade curriculum investigates community leaders and those working to create social change and positive impact on our society in both historical and contemporary contexts. Subjects profiled in the first issue include: filmmaker Spike Lee, television journalist Anderson Cooper, and historian Eric Foner. |
Bed-Stuy State of Mind
This collection of profiles, written by 9th and 10th grade students at Foundation Academy, effectively communicates the expertise and leadership present in the community and the emerging literary talent in the school. As a result of this process, these writers were able to find their own voice as they bring to life the stories from members of our community. |
Behind the Desk: Profiles of Educators
Composed by students participating in a writing methods course at Teachers College, this collection of profiles celebrates the art of teaching and those who do it well. |
My Inspirational Woman
In a poignant anthology, students at The Young Women's Leadership School of the Bronx pay tribute to the Wonder Women who inspire the them to be "the girls we are today, and the leaders we want to be tomorrow." This book is a celebration of the school's mission to make students strong future leaders. |
Silent Struggle
In a stunning inquiry project 12th graders of NYC Lab School, write across the boundaries of narrative, informative, and argument writing. In doing so, they create humanizing portraits of those affected systemic inequity and sound powerful calls to action through solution proposals related to housing, police brutality, and the presence of drugs in their communities. |
Writers Unblocked
Writers Unblocked offers readers a glimpse into the lives of people from all professions who identify first and foremost as writers; television producers, college students, architects, magazine contributors, comedians, and editors, to name a few. Through the process of this project, students came to identify themselves as writers and part of a larger literary community. They experimented with symbolism, metaphor and composition through the drafting and re-drafting of text and through the use of still-life photography projects—all of which are included in this masterful collection of students’ reflections on writers and writing. |
