Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the first of five volumes of Maya Angelou's autobiography, which cover the years from the early 1930's, up until about 1970. Out of the five, it is probably the most popular and critically acclaimed volume, dealing with Angelou's childhood, up to her coming-of-age at sixteen. All of her volumes center around the themes of family, self-discovery, and motherhood, though in terms of writing style and plot each of them is different. Maya's mother Vivian Baxter and her son Guy, born at the end of this book, are also central figures throughout Angelou's life stor…
