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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou's Autobiography, #1)

Maya Angelou

Start date: October 1, 2024

Finish date: October 15, 2024

Discussion: Archived-A Year of Banned Books

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What Members Thought

Sep 18, 2014 Book Concierge rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century, 1001-books-you-must-read-before-you, family, autobiography, african-american, coming-of-age, racism, memoir, library, social-commentary

Audiobook performed by the author

This is the first memoir in a series of six which together formed Angelou’s autobiography. In this work she chronicles her childhood from about age three to age 17. She begins when she and her brother, Bailey Jr (one year her senior) were sent to live with their paternal grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas after their parents divorced. In the home of Mrs Annie Henderson, Maya and Bailey learned their multiplication tables, their Bible studies, good manners, and prope ...more

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Feb 25, 2020 Marie rated it really liked it

Shelves: author-bipoc, t-non-fiction, author-woman, t-memoir

A life told with honesty and dry wit. Even terrible events are described with an archness that shows Angelou's perceptiveness and self-awareness.

The hard edges of racism are shown, but also the softer edges that modern white readers may not be aware of: that black folks were never called Mr or Mrs by white folk (There's a subtle moment at the end of the film Hidden Figures that wouldn't have been clear to me if I hadn't read this book). That going to the white part of town was a scary experienc ...more

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Mar 05, 2022 Beth rated it really liked it

Shelves: 50-poc, memoir, historical, torchandpitchfork

This is a reread after a long time (I own the book, so I just took it off the shelves). This time I am really impressed with the writing, which I think felt almost transparent to me; of course this is how kids feel, but now I really appreciate how she grasps and conveys how children interpret the world around them and what they sense and what doesn't concern them.

I vividly remembered the final chapters, with her pregnancy and birth of her son, but had completely forgotten her summer with her fa ...more

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Oct 07, 2020 Traci rated it really liked it

Well written memoir that reads like a novel. Just an amazing story. I didn't know much about Maya Angelou before reading this book. What an amazing rise above a heartbreaking childhood. Angelou does an amazing job describing the childhood of a black woman raised in the South in the 30s and 40s. She depicts it accurately without accusations. I feel this has a much bigger impact that drawing too much hatred into the work. I will read more of her memoirs to learn more about this woman's life. ...more

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