I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou writes beautifully and from the heart in the autobiography of her sometimes happy but often painful childhood.  When their parents divorced, she and her brother, Bailey, were sent to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas.   She was just 5 years old, Bailey, 4. 

Their grandmother was an exceptional woman, kind but strict.  The children helped in the general store she owned and ran in the small, tight-knit all-Black community.

Angelou tells of going to visit her mother in St. Louis and being raped by her mother's live-in boyfriend.  The 8-year-old child was so traumatized that she refused to speak for several years.  She recovered when a teacher, who understood her love of books, encouraged her to read out loud.

Her teenage yeas were difficult.  Angelou grew to be six feel tall, had no self-confidence, believed she was ugly, and had been stung more than once by bigotry.  In her late teens, she visited her mother again, this time in California.   As a result of a one-time encounter, which she initiated to try and reassure herself that she was "lovable," she became pregnant.  The result was "her greatest gift," her son, Guy. 

Angelou went on to become a renowned writer of both books and poetry.  She wrote and read a poem at President Bill Clinton's inauguration. All of her works are written in a direct, personal, sometimes humorous style. She was a civil rights activist, sometimes working alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X.  She also was an educator, a playwright, a singer, composer and dancer; she earned numerous honorary doctorates.  Angelou died in May of 2014.—Gail Allen

Plainsong, by Kent Haruf

A “plainsong” is a simple, unadorned melody, a Christian worship song without instruments, sung in unity. And it’s the fitting title of Kent Haruf’s lyrical novel about mythical Holt, Colorado, its flawed citizens and the angels that help save those most in need, especially the children.

Plainsong, the book, is truly a plainsong, unadorned and melodic. It is a gentle, calm story of human failings and redemption that matches its setting: the quiet plains of windswept northeastern Colorado. The cast of characters includes Maggie Jones, the catalyst who connects lost souls with their saviors; Tom Guthrie and his sons Ike and Bobby, whose mother is not up to the challenge of day-to-day parenting and moves to Denver, leaving the boys to find mothering where they can; the McPheron brothers, bachelor farmers who fill a hole in their lives by informally adopting Victoria Roubideaux, a pregnant teenage whose mother locks her out of the house; and a troublemaking high school student and his obnoxious parents.

At times, I felt like hugging this book because of the goodness of some of its characters, its authenticity and subtle humor.

Haruf is from my hometown of Pueblo, Colorado. Every year when we drive to our Colorado cabin, we pass Yuma, Colorado, which is the model for Holt. And Haruf ended up building a home in Salida, Colorado, one of my favorite places. So this novel had special connections for me. Sharelle Moranville has written about her admiration for Haruf. But we all enjoyed the book and look forward to reading more by Haruf, especially Eventide, which follows the characters five years later.

In a final interview just days before he died in November, 2014, Haruf said, “I want to think that I have written as close to the bone as I could.” He did indeed.— Patricia Prijatel