I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

by Beverly Tjerngren

Check another one off my list! Last week I sat down with Maya Angelou's most well-known work, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and read through it in a couple of days. Wow, what a good book!

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the autobiographical account of Angelou's early years, up to age sixteen. She grew up in the 1930s and '40s, living sometimes with her grandmother in rural Arkansas and other times with her mother, first in St. Louis then in San Francisco. As most autobiographies are, this book is the story of the author's search for identity and struggles with adversity. Angelou faced more adversity than most, battling against what she describes as the "tripartite crossfire of masculine prejudice, white illogical hate, and the black lack of power." Her narrative is in turns infuriating, humbling, inspiring, terrifying, and more. Reading the last page I literally had goosebumps on my arms.

When I finished the book all I could think of was that I needed more. I had to know what happened next. I was thrilled, then, to discover when I went looking online that this book was merely the first of five volumes. I ordered the next two, Gather Together in My Name and Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas that day, and I'll dive right back in to Angelou's fascinating life just as soon as the books are delivered to my door.