Rise!

From Caged Bird to Poet
of the People,

Maya Angelou

Lee & Low Books
(pub. 8.13.2019) 
48 pages

A True Tale with

A Cherry On Top   

A uthor: Bethany Hegedus
and illustrator: Tonya Engel

 
C haracter: Maya Angelou

O verview: 
     "Maya Angelou's life was defined by transformation and perseverance. From her early days as a passionate reader in Arkansas, through her work as a freedom fighter with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, to her triumphant rise as a post of the people, Maya Angelou did more than survive. She thrived, and along the way she became an inspiration to millions. 
     In honor of the 50th anniversary of Angelou's classic I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and with a foreword by her grandson Colin Johnson, Rise! celebrates the luminous life, spirit, and legacy of a truly phenomenal woman."

T antalizing taste: 
"The sights, sounds, and smells of San Francisco 
   delight Maya.
She floats through the fog,
   a cocoon of creativity that blankets the city.
Maya's love of language now moves within her,
   rhythm, rhyme,
   meter as music.
Before long, Maya earns a scholarship
   to the California Labor School.
There she dons black tights
   and learns to occupy space
   with her long limbs.
Maya the dancer,
   the performer,
        is born."

And something more: The Foreword by Colin Johnson, Maya Angelou's grandson, states that as my grandmother "moved past the pains of her own childhood and managed that pain, she came to believe: 'My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.'" And Bethany Hegedus, the author of Rise! and owner of The Writing Barn in Austin, Texas, is someone who also shares a powerful message: "What I learned after surviving 9/11 and during the 12 years it took for Grandfather Gandhi [her first children's biography] to be published was to keep being creative, believe in your vision, be resilient, and believe in the power of story to heal."