Award-winning poet, author, playwright, historian,
songwriter, singer, dancer, stage and screen producer,
director, and civil rights activist: Dr. Maya Angelou needs
no introduction. She is a true American icon—and now she is
the first living poet included in Sterling’s celebrated
Poetry for Young People series. Twenty-five of her
finest poems capture a range of emotions and experiences,
from the playful “Harlem Hopscotch” to the prideful “Me and
My Work” to the soul-stirring “Still I Rise.” While her
writings deal with the historic struggles of
African-Americans, they all resonate with spiritual strength
and hope for the future that everyone can relate to. A
special inclusion in this volume is “A Brave and Startling
Truth,” written to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the
United Nations. Award-winning artist Jerome Lagarrigue
masterfully illustrates each verse with evocative, stunning
pictures. Dr. Edwin Graves Wilson, the Provost Emeritus of
Wake Forest University and a longtime colleague of Dr.
Angelou, has written the book’s introduction, the
introductions to the individual poems, and the
annotations.