I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou 🔖🔖🔖🔖

First published January 1, 1969 

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Literary awards: Coretta Scott King Book Award for Author Honor (1971)

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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. (Source: goodreads)

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I have always known of this book as I have been aware of Maya Angelou and her lauded work in our world. It was my own admiration for her as a person and the fact that this is a highly banned book that got me to keep it on my To Read shelf until I could get to it. I finally got to it! 

This was really a good book, though there were parts which were a bit slow. Her life and how she tells the story are so "real" and helps me understand, even a little tiny bit, what it was like for her growing up. The way she presented information so clearly helped me get a glimpse without barriers, which I think was masterful. 

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This book was banned for so many reasons: 

Rape of a child --- Maya at 8 years old is raped by her mother's boyfriend. Quite graphic and disturbing, keeping me awake a few nights. It was not done in any gratuitous way, however, and I think us knowing the bare facts and truth is not a bad thing. 

Violence -- a man is beaten to death, yet we don't hear about the beating itself. Just that he was found. Someone gets shot twice and lives. 

Profanity -- The N word is most often used, almost every instance is repeating what someone else has said. The next curse word is the B word, used about 6 times, twice in one sitting. 

Sexual activity -- a teen boy "plays house" with neighborhood girls. This leads to actual sexual activity with one of the girls. At the very end of the book, a teenage girl has a random sexual encounter which leads to pregnancy. 

Racism -- why would we ban a book from a black woman that includes racism?? Do we want to keep pretending it doesn't happen? Seriously. Same with a similar reason for banning: controversial racial and historical commentary -- controversial for whom? Maybe one needs to ask themselves why that's so controversial? 

Alternative sexualities -- because a character briefly wondered if she was a lesbian? Oh, the horror.