Title: I Know Why the Caged Bird SingsAuthor: Maya Angelou
ISBN: 0-553-380001-X
Recommended Grade Level of Reader: 10th and Up
Publisher: Bantam Books
Media Type: Book
Copyright: 1970
Genre: Memoir
Reader's Annotation: An autobiographical account of a New York Times Best Selling author and world renowned poet. Maya Angelou's humor and sincerity reveals what is truly in the heart of a woman.
Plot Summary: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is an autobiographical tale of Maya Angelou’s childhood beginning in Stamps, Arkansas through her late adolescence in San Francisco, California. Living in the south as an African American girl, Angelou experiences prejudice, racism, and intolerance. Angelou’s grandmother, with whom Angelou is living and being raised by, serves as a strong role-model for the young girl. She later goes on to live with her mother on the west coast.
Evaluation: (A+) In true Maya Angelou fashion, Caged Bird is written with eloquence and emotion. The author writes with a unique ability for description that allows the reader to see and hear the characters in Angelou's memoir. One can't help to feel as if he or she knows Momma, Vivian Baxter, and Maya Angelou herself. While not always serious and straight faced, Angelou interjects humor in her narrative. It is Angelou's humor that helps to ease the pain and horror of the seemingly humorless events she faced. This is a good book to show teens that despite social class, race, ethnicity, or sex, people can live up to their full potential and accomplish goals they set out to achieve.
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