Author:
Maya Angelou

Number of pages:
289

Does the book have pictures?
No

What age group is this book written for?
High School & Beyond

Category:
Biography

Brief summary:
Maya Angelou's gift is in telling things exactly as she sees them, whether the situation is outrageously funny, or sad. Her words are crafted so well that you will feel that You are There. She takes us back to a time when civil rights for many people of the USA were still very much a dream, and shows us by her very life how faith and love, dreams and hard work are essential to making our dreams come true.

It is also a story of the pain of learning to accept what shape one's nearly-adult body is becoming; learning to love Self. A story of making difficult choices (some good, some way less than perfect), and living with the consequences. The description of teenaged curiosity, apprehension and desire for sex is by turns funny and deeply sad, Empty. How easily that drive can shift into Overdrive, how quickly the passion fades into nothingness, how, for generation upon generation, babies come into this world much too easily...this is an Honest account.

It's very much a story of Family. Today, it might be labelled a "dysfunctional family". Maya's grandmother was the strength of her family, her father had an adventurous spirit, her mother was intelligent, caring, Strong and resilient, and beautiful. Both mother and grandmother were unaccepting of mediocrity, and expressed it in different ways. Maya takes us by the hand and leads us through her youth; in the process, she encourages the human Spirit to aim very High...and sing.