I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings | Learning to Live, When the Bird Breaks from the Cage

In this excerpt, Moore enumerates the challenges that have been brought forth against I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and explains why she believes it to be a positive reading experience for young people.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the autobiography of Maya Angelou, is the story of one girl's growing up. But, like any literary masterpiece, the story of this one black girl declaring "I can" to a color-coded society that in innumerable ways had told her "you can't, you won't" transcends its author. It is an affirmation; it promises that life, if we have the courage to live it, will be worth the struggle. A book of this description might seem good reading for junior high and high school students. According to People for the American Way, however, Caged Bird was the ninth...

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