I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings....

It was 2001, I had just gone in to 2nd year at high school and we were given a new teacher. A great teacher, she made me want to read, made me want to learn, made me sure that English really was my favourite subject. She also made me realise what rules are sometimes ridiculous and really are made to be broken. This amazing woman wanted to teach us about a book called "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" the first part in the memoirs of an awe inspiring women. She was told no and, I quote "because it contains a very graphic rape scenario."  Now whilst the book does contain said scenario, it is no more graphic than what we see on TV or the internet and I felt this was a gross failing by the powers that be at *** Academy.
So in retaliation I went out and I read and re-read and then re-read it again and again.

This book is amazing. Purely and utterly amazing. It's well written and so personal you can't help but feeling everything our author describes.

I am a white, modern woman from a big city yet I felt myself living this tale of a young black girl, growing up in adversity, in the middle of nowhere.

Maya Angelou makes you feel her pain, makes you imagine what it was like being her, and makes you want to know more. Whilst I know that Ms Angelou survived her upbringing and went on to receive the highest award possible for a civilian in the United States, became a professor at a top university and even read one of her poems at Bill Clinton's 1993 Inauguration, you still find yourself lost in her story and hoping and pleading that everything turns out okay.

This book is the first of six autobiographical memoirs by the great lady, and is definitely not to be missed.
Read it for all the times you were told you weren't allowed to do something, read it for the story of a survivor, read it for enjoyment, read it for all the times you've felt caged, read it for any reason.

The most important thing is that you read it.