I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Random House Publishing Group · Print & ebook · April 21, 2009
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- Who it’s for
- A memoir holds childhood’s pain and wonder together, with words offering a path toward freedom.
- Themes
- Childhood abandonment, Racial prejudice, Self-acceptance and freedom
- Genres
- Black & African American Lives, Personal Memoirs, Women's Lives
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Start with this bookAbout this book
Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide. Her life story is told in the documentary film And Still I Rise, as seen on PBS’s American Masters. Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right.
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Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age—and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors (“I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare”) will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned. Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings will touch hearts and change minds for as long as people read. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings liberates the reader into life simply because Maya Angelou confronts her own life with such a moving wonder, such a luminous dignity.”—James Baldwin
Words and Wonder
A memoir holds childhood’s pain and wonder together, with words offering a path toward freedom.
Come here for
- Childhood wonder alongside the blunt force of bigotry
- A lasting bond with books and the power of words
Expect
- Poetic reflection alongside frank accounts of hardship
- A memoir that makes room for both hurt and joy
Where it sits
| Black & African American Lives | 61% |
|---|---|
| Women's Lives | 59% |
| Personal Memoirs | 41% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Black & African American Lives
- Writers' Lives
- Personal Memoirs
- Authors
- Maya Angelou
- Publisher
- Random House Publishing Group
- Published
- April 21, 2009
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Childhood abandonment · Racial prejudice · Self-acceptance and freedom
- Reading lane
- Black & African American Lives