Poetry for Young People: Maya Angelou

by Maya Angelou, Edwin Graves Wilson (Editor), Jerome Lagarrigue (Illustrator)

Overview

An acclaimed anthology receives a new design and cover! Award-winning writer, historian, and civil rights activist Dr. Maya Angelou is a true American icon. Twenty-five of her finest poems capture a range of emotions and experiences, from the playful “Harlem Hopscotch” to the prideful “Me and My Work” to the soul-stirring “Still I Rise.” Award-winning artist Jerome Lagarrigue masterfully illustrates each verse, and renowned academic Dr. Edwin Graves Wilson, a longtime colleague of Dr. Angelou, has written the book's introduction, introductions to the poems, and annotations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781402720239
Publisher:	Sterling
Publication date:	09/01/2007
Series:	Poetry for Young People Series
Edition description:	Illustrated
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	8.70(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Maya Angelou is an award-winning poet, author, historian, songwriter, playwright, dancer, stage and screen producer, director, singer, and civil rights activist. Her books include the bestselling autobiographies I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Die, nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. She received a Tony-award nomination for Look Away, and in 1993 won a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for On the Pulse of Morning.

For more than 50 years, Dr. Edwin Graves Wilson has been a much-admired educator at Wake Forest College, from which he graduated before going on to receive his MA and PhD from Harvard University. He has served as Provost at Wake Forest, as well as Dean of the college and Senior Vice President, and also received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Campbell University. Wilson has served on many councils and boards, including the Carolina Arts Council, Piedmont Opera Theatre, and Museum of American Art.

Jerome Lagarrigue won the Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe award for best new talent and the Ezra Jack Keats award for best illustrator for Freedom Summer (Simon & Schuster). He was also awarded the Miriam Vanett Ridgway award for best illustrator for My Man Blue, published by Penguin, and was the recipient of the prestigious Villa Medicis grant and residency program in Rome.

Hometown:

Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Date of Birth:

April 4, 1928

Place of Birth:

St. Louis, Missouri

Education:

High school in Atlanta and San Francisco

Editorial Reviews

Part of the "Poetry for Young People" series, this visually attractive picture book begins with a four-page introduction that includes not only biographical information but also explains to young readers how certain poems relate to the time Angelou was growing up. The twenty-five selections begin with a brief explanation of each poem that should make them more accessible to young readers unfamiliar with the language. These explanations also include definitions of words they may not know. In "Songs for the Old Ones" we are told that this is a tribute to older African-Americans who survived slavery and cruelty with pride. Some of the words defined at the end of the poem include Aunt Jemimas, coffles ("a line of slaves chained together in transit"), and profound. Dr. Edwin Graves Wilson, a professor of English at Wake Forest and a colleague of Angelou's, has written the introduction to the book and the annotations to the individual poems. Award-winning illustrator Lagarrigue's stunning illustrations—such as the wistful little girl sitting on the steps in "Little Girl Speaking" and "Willie," the stooped old man leaning on a cane, a backdrop of gold and green and blue swirling around—add tremendously to the appeal of this book. Other "Poetry for Young People" titles include Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Edgar Allan Poe and Langston Hughes. Maya Angelou is the first living poet to be a part of the series. Reviewer: Augusta Scattergood

Children's Literature - Augusta Scattergood

Gr 4 Up-Wilson's introduction to the first living poet in this series addresses how Angelou's life has informed her imagination, moving from her childhood in segregated Arkansas, where she discovered both the harshness and the beauty of language, to her political and humanitarian engagement as an adult. Twenty-five poems show her concern with the African-American experience from the evil of enslavement to contemporary struggles and achievements. Dignity, pride, and resiliency are at this collection's core. Popular selections include "Life Doesn't Frighten Me," "Willie," "Woman Work," "Still I Rise," and "Caged Bird." Brief captions appear below the titles to aid young readers. For example, before "Caged Bird," Wilson explains that the title is from Paul Laurence Dunbar's poem "Sympathy," which Angelou also used for the title of her first book. Footnotes offer definitions of colloquialisms and difficult words. Lagarrigue's painterly artwork uses golds, greens, and violets to capture the luminescent quality of the poems. Sometimes the work recalls the glowing light in a Turner or a Rembrandt, especially the illustration for "A Georgia Song." This distinguished work will be appreciated by those studying American history and literature.-Teresa Pfeifer, Alfred Zanetti Montessori Magnet School, Springfield, MA

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

School Library Journal