If you haven’t read anything by Maya Angelou, you’re missing out! She is the author of many works ranging from poems to autobiographies. You may be familiar with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which was probably on your high school reading list at some point. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings begins her five-book series chronicling her life in great detail; it includes all the hard times and achievements along the way. She has also authored numerous poems.
Although I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is arguably Maya Angelou’s most well-known work, I wanted us to visit Letter to my Daughter early on once classes started as a source of advice and inspiration to begin a new semester. The great thing about Letter to my Daughter is that the book itself is a short, easy read; it’s a compilation of short essays and stories, which make picking it up in between class or before bed extremely easy!
Letter to my Daughter begins with this statement from Angelou:
“I gave birth to one child, a son, but I have thousands of daughters. You are Black and White, Jewish and Muslim, Asian, Spanish speaking, Native Americans and Aleut. You are fat and thin and pretty and plain, gay and straight, educated and unlettered, and I am speaking to you all. Here is my offering to you.”
As soon as I picked up Letter to my Daughter, I knew I had struck gold. Just as the introduction states, this book has something for everyone, no matter your background or what stage of life you’re in! Having never read anything by Maya Angelou (bad English major, I know!), I instantly fell in love with the style and flow of her writing. Every time I started reading, I became deeply immersed in what felt like a conversation with an old friend.
Why you should read it: A lot of the things that Maya Angelou has to say about life remind me of things that my own mom has told me at one point or another. Long story short, it never hurts to be reminded that other people have struggled and know exactly what you’re going through, too — whether it is success or failure. Letter to my Daughter is an easy, simple, beautiful read that you’ll want to share with your friends and family alike. Being a senior this year, I especially enjoyed the chapter on graduation and moving from one stage of life to the next. I hope you find the time in between your busy schedule to read this book (even if it’s only one chapter a night) because Maya Angelou is truly someone any collegiette can learn from! I don’t want to give too much away, but this is definitely one of my ‘must-read’ choices for the semester, and I definitely think this book is something that should be on any 20-somethings’ reading list.
From the back cover: “For a world of devoted readers, a much-awaited new volume of absorbing stories and inspirational wisdom from one of our best-loved writers.
Dedicated to the daughter she never had but sees all around her, Letter to My Daughter reveals Maya Angelou’s path to living well and living a life with meaning. Told in her own inimitable style, this book transcends genres and categories: guidebook, memoir, poetry, and pure delight.
Here in short spellbinding essays are glimpses of the tumultuous life that led Angelou to an exalted place in American letters and taught her lessons in compassion and fortitude: how she was brought up by her indomitable grandmother in segregated Arkansas, taken in at thirteen by her more worldly and less religious mother, and grew to be an awkward, six-foot-tall teenager whose first experience of loveless sex paradoxically left her with her greatest gift, a son.
Whether she is recalling such lost friends as Coretta Scott King and Ossie Davis, extolling honesty, decrying vulgarity, explaining why becoming a Christian is a “lifelong endeavor,” or simply singing the praises of a meal of red rice–Maya Angelou writes from the heart to millions of women she considers her extended family.
Like the rest of her remarkable work, Letter to My Daughter entertains and teaches; it is a book to cherish, savor, re-read, and share.”