Angelou, Maya

Poet Maya Angelou chronicles her early life, focusing on her childhood in 1930s rural Arkansas, including her rape at the age of five, her subsequent years of muteness, and the strength she gained from her grandmother and Mrs. Bertha Flowers, a respected African-American woman in her town.

A continuation of Maya Angelou's autobiography "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," picking up in her teen years just after the birth of her son.

The author writes of the African American experience in a collection of poetry that captures the themes of African American history, love, heartbreak, triumph, and pain.