Welcome

           Welcome to my selection of materials for older teens.  I came to this project with a somewhat disadvantaged background; I did not have a wealth of experience reading literature that would be considered interesting by many older teens, I rarely watch films, listen to popular music, and I do not play computer games.  I have a particularly strong background in the classics and one cannot just throw Epictetus at a teen used to reading about vampires and expect them to buy it, even though I believe The Golden Sayings of Epictetus to be a work that would be applicable to many older teens.  So I more or less had to start from scratch and am really glad I did because the review of the materials was a true learning experience.

The following are a few observations:

1.  YA literature is literature, some if it is bad, much of it is good, and quite a few pieces are just as excellent as some of my favorites.  It is in no way something that is less because it was written for youth, and is in some ways more remarkable because of that fact.

2.  Walter Dean Myers and Suzanne Collins are amazing writers and I would easily place them among any list of greatest American writers.

3. The ‘Hero Cycle’ in Joseph Campbell’s work The Hero with a Thousand Faces was present in many of the books I have listed below.  Campbell drew his examples from the mythology of many parts of the world, which shows that no matter how modern and hip many writers still rely on timeless themes. 

4.  There are a few titles I would have liked to add, but simply did not have time.  Authors such as Louis De Bernieres, Isabel Allende, Nikos Kazantzakis, Orhan Pamuk, and about 100 others deserve to be on the list.

5.  I now have a number of new writers to add to my growing list of those whose works I want to read.  Works from writers such as Suzanne Collins, Walter Dean Myers, Chaim Potok, and Tracy Barrett will all be on my vacation reading list.

6.  Many YA authors are quite daring people; they write books that need to be written and stand by their artistic expressions.

A breakdown of items I have added is:

1 Magazine

3 Computer Games

3 Websites

3 CDs

5 Motion Pictures

38   Books

I really sought to include a good variety of genres, but realize that this humble attempt cannot cover everything.

I hope you enjoy reading this blog and please email me at Jakebarillaro@yahoo.com if you have any questions. 

Thank you,

Jacob Barillaro