I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

· Sold by Random House
4.5
1.05K reviews
Ebook
304
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

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. Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide.
 
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

Ratings and reviews

4.5
1.05K reviews
Emma Ferguson (Fergi)
August 18, 2015
Why do we have to pay for each book that's good book because now my mom won't get them for me, I'm only 10
3 people found this review helpful
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Ben S
December 11, 2015
Hard to tell what any of the story was building up to or where it was going. It was supposed to show the hardships of a young black girl in the southern US during the 40's but felt more like a diary than an actual story
4 people found this review helpful
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Cory Lakey Junior
December 13, 2013
they should burn all copies of this book. my 10th grade english teacher made us read this and now I know why that this is a banned book in most schools.
1 person found this review helpful
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About the author

Maya Angelou was raised in Stamps, Arkansas. In addition to her bestselling autobiographies, including I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and The Heart of a Woman, she wrote numerous volumes of poetry, among them Phenomenal Woman, And Still I Rise, On the Pulse of Morning, and Mother. Maya Angelou died in 2014.

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