Copy of Maya Angelou: Books about Maya Angelou and her Work

A guide to writing about the author's novels features suggestions for composing different types of essays as well as a summary of themes prominent in each work.

Presents essays that examine racism and other related issues in "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," discussing such topics as race and gender, humor and folklore, and death and rebirth.

The author presents photographs of Angelou taken in the course of a year and pairs them with "thoughts on Angelou's powers of friendship as interpreted by her friends."

Presents critical essays on Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" and includes a chronology, a bibliography, and an introduction by critic Harold Bloom.

Chronicles the life of poet and author Maya Angelou, discussing her childhood, schooling, relationships, family life, years as a stage performer, career accomplishments, and impact on American literature.

An unusual and irresistible look at Maya Angelou's life as well as her myriad interests and accomplishments by the people who know her best--her longtime friends Marcia Ann Gillespie and Richard Long, and her niece Rosa Johnson Butler. Features over 150 sepia portraits, family photographs, and letters.

Maya Angelou's autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was nominated for a National Book Award, yet in 1995 it topped the list of books most frequently challenged in schools and libraries. This interdisciplinary collection of documents and commentary explores the historical and social context, as well as the contemporary issues and controversies, raised by Angelou's autobiography. A rich resource for teachers and students, it will help to enhance the reader's understanding of the historical and social forces that shaped Maya Angelou's experience - race relations in the pre-civil rights South, segregated schools, the African American church, and the African American family. It also examines the issue of childhood sexual abuse, the inclusion of which has been the basis of most of the challenges to the autobiography, and the issue of the work's censorship since its publication.