I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou

Growing up in 1930s America isn?t easy when you?re a young Black girl. Marguerite Johnson lives with her grandparents and older brother Bailey in the town of Stamps, a heavily Black-White segregated place where everybody knows their place. A brief stay with her mother results in Marguerite being raped by her Mother?s boyfriend. Returning to Stamps, her way of coping is retreat into a world of muteness. The book follows the next few years of Marguerite?s life as she comes to terms with what happened to her and the person that she becomes. The book is an autobiographical account of Maya Angelou?s childhood so the impact it makes is stronger as you know that every ...  Read the complete review

This book is unmissable due to Angelou’s beautiful, poetic language. However, I would not recommend it to anyone under 16 because of the harrowing rape scene. In brief: Maya Angelou's autobiography, from her arrival in Stamps aged just 3 to the birth of her child. All the usual challenges of growing up are teamed with abuse, abandonment and racial discrimination. However this is an uplifting tale of a strong and beautiful young woman. The central themes of ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ include the healing power of religion; perceptions of beauty; abandonment, which leads to independence; the exploration of sexual ...  Read the complete review