I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings | Maya Angelou | South Mill Young Readers Book Club Review (Jr....

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings | Maya Angelou | Book Review: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

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I Know Why the Cag...

	I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou Bantam, 1983 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 303 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A phenomenal #1 bestseller that has appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for nearly three years, this memoir traces Maya Angelou's childhood in a small, rural community during the 1930s. Filled with images and recollections that point to the dignity and courage of black men and women,
Angelou paints a sometimes disquieting, but always affecting picture of the people--and the times--that touched her life.

South Mill Young Readers Book Club Review (Jr. High Readers)

We are the members of the South Mill Young Readers Book Club located in Conyers, Georgia. We are in the thirteen year old age bracket and thought it would be challenging to attempt to read and understand this story. As a result of our reading, we rate the book as follows:

Creativity - B+
Enjoyment - A+
Price - B+

We would recommend this book to others in our age group to read it.

Typed by Book Club Instructor: mwg

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Book Review: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

A narrative about overcoming the obstacles in one's life, Maya Angelou's memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, reflects on Maya's experiences as a child and teen and the racial discrimination she faces. The memoir is set in rural Arkansas, St. Louis, and San Francisco between the years of 1931 and 1944, At the age of three, Maya, along with her elder brother, Bailey, are sent to live with their grandmother in Arkansas, deep in the then segregated South, after their parents' marriage ends in divorce. Later, as a young adult, she and her brother are sent to live with their mother, both in St. Louis and in San Francisco. While growing up, Maya struggles with maturing into an adult, her parents divorce, rape, and pregnancy.
While living with her mother in St. Louis, Maya is raped by her mother's fifty-year-old boyfriend, Mr. Freeman, at the age of eight. Although this issue is briefly touched upon through the book, one can see it made a great impact on her life, as she refused to talk for several years. With the help of Mrs. Flowers, a woman living in her town in Arkansas, she finally did begin to speak again. Later, while living in San Francisco, Maya begins to fear herself to be a lesbian, and as a result of this belief, she has sex with a boy at sixteen in hopes of convincing herself she is not gay. Three weeks after having sex, Maya finds herself pregnant. She hid her pregnancy from her mother for a majority of her pregnancy term, and it was only with two weeks left in the pregnancy did she decide to tell her mother. Angelou only briefly touches on her pregnancy, as if it is an insignificant issue in her life; however, during the 1940's, society looked down upon single, unwed, teen mothers. Despite all the elements working against her, she continues to persevere, eventually becoming the first black female street car conductor in San Francisco while still in high school, despite the racial discrimination opposing her.
Although I wanted to connect to Maya Angelou's character because she is a female protagonist and much of the book takes place while she was a teenager, I was unable to. In Jeannette Walls's memoir, The Glass Castle, I was cheering for Jeannette to overcome her obstacles and achieve her goals in life, while I had little empathy for the issues Maya faced in her life. I found the language in the book relatively simple, but I was confused throughout the book, whether it was about character's ages, or the introduction of new characters. While reading, I would find myself needing to stop for a minute so I would be able to remember who a character was.
Maya Angelou expertly sums up her experiences as a child in the opening of the book when she states, "If growing up is painful for the Southern Black girl, being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat." Although I did not love this book, it is successful in portraying a young woman who clears many hurtles and champions her dreams.

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Recommended for teenage girls.

I thought this book was an interesting read, however it was difficult to finish at times. What made me continue to finish the book was the beautiful way Maya Angelou writes. I found her story to be a bit dry and slow at times. However, her preserverance to become successful in life dispite her many obstacles kept me interested in this book. If I had not known how successful Maya Angelou's life turned out, I might not have finished the book. I was interested in knowing her journey. I recommend this book for teenage girls who are struggling with self-esteem issues and teen pregnancy because Maya Angelou's story can be used as a great encouragement to hang in there despite adversity.

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