Review--Letter to My Daughter by Maya Angelou

Letter to My Daughter by Maya Angelou
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Maya Angelou has long been one of my favorite authors.  I have even performed her poetry during my high school day in regional speech & debate tournaments.  I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was her first book that I read as an adolescent.  Her words are always inspiring and listening to her read Letter to My Daughter was incredible.  Reading her books always leave me feeling refreshed and alive, but hearing the emotion in her voice while she was reading her words, gives the book even more enjoyable.  Hearing her voice crack as she talks about being beaten and raped almost brought me to tears. It made me feel a deeper connection to Ms. Angelou.

It's ironic that this book is called Letter to My Daughter when Maya Angelou doesn't have a daughter. She claims women such as Oprah Winfrey, Rosa Johnson Butler, Valerie Simpson, Brenda Crisp, and Frances Berry allowed her to be a mother to them.  This book goes through different aspects of Maya Angelou's life from childhood living with her grandmother, to becoming an undeveloped woman who thought sex would bring in her breasts. And it did, but they were filled with milk.

We as women go through many struggles in life.  A lot of the time, we put ourselves on the back burner in order to take care of those around us.  In this book, Maya Angelou proves to us that no matter the struggle, if we work hard and put ourselves first, we can accomplish anything.  She had it just as hard, actually harder than any of us and look at all she had done in this world.

I recommend this book to all the women I know.  It will leave you feeling empowered, strong and on top of the world.


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