Maya Angelou

By Author / Illustrator

Lisbeth Kaiser, Leire Salaberria

Genre

Adventure

Age range(s)

Publisher

Frances Lincoln Publishers Ltd

ISBN

9781847808905

Format

Hardback

Published

08-09-2016

Synopsis

In this international bestseller from the critically acclaimed Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the incredible life of Maya Angelou, the powerful speaker, writer and civil rights activist.

Maya Angelou spent much of her childhood in Stamps, Arkansas. After a traumatic event at age eight, she stopped speaking for five years. However, Maya rediscovered her voice through wonderful books, and went on to become one of the world's most beloved writers and speakers. This moving book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of Maya Angelou's life.

Little People, BIG DREAMS is a bestselling series of books and educational games that explore the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream.

This empowering series offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardback versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. Boxed gift sets allow you to collect a selection of the books by theme. Paper dolls, learning cards, matching games and other fun learning tools provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children.

Inspire the next generation of outstanding people who will change the world with Little People, BIG DREAMS!

Reviews

The Little People, Big Dreams series is a charming set of books that makes biographies of famous women easy to access for little women with big dreams! This book tells the story of Maya Angelou and how she overcame difficulties in her childhood and adult life, to fight for equality and hope for people everywhere. Growing up in South America at a time where the colour of your skin affected how people spoke to you, where you could go and what you could become, this is good story for introducing the subject of civil rights in America. I think the pictures being cartoon-like make what are quite meaty issues, even for adults to try to comprehend, a little easier to digest. It is partly for this reason that I think this book is suitable for readers a little older than some of the other ones in the series. Maya overcame a lot of prejudice and controversy in her life, this story carries the message that you are stronger than you think and that persistence and confidence are key to being happy and successful. This story would be good for talking about civil rights, it'd also be good for talking about equality of gender and for introducing poetry as an art form that can be very effective. Quite often in schools, children come across generic rhyming poems, or just skim the surface of poetry - but in the story, after being hurt by her mother's boyfriend, Maya becomes mute and it is only through discovering how words come alive in stories and poetry that she finds her voice again. This book would be a great way into getting children to look at poetry and stories as a way of expressing yourself, as escapism or as a way to experience more things. Picture book / Ages 7+ / Reviewed by Lizi Coombs, teacher.