Maya's Song

by Renée Watson, Bryan Collier (Illustrator)

Overview

From bestselling, award-winning creators Renée Watson and Bryan Collier comes a stunningly crafted picture book chronicling the life of poet and activist Maya Angelou.

This unforgettable picture book introduces young readers to the life and work of Maya Angelou, whose words have uplifted and inspired generations of readers. The author of the celebrated autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya was the first Black person and first woman to recite a poem at a presidential inauguration, and her influence echoes through culture and history. She was also the first Black woman to appear on the United States quarter.

Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Author Award winner Renée Watson uses Angelou’s beloved medium of poetry to lyrically chronicle her rich life in a deeply moving narrative. Vivid and striking collage art by Caldecott Honor recipient and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner Bryan Collier completes this unforgettable portrait of one of the most important American artists in history.

Maya’s momma was right.

Maya was a preacher, a teacher.

A Black girl whose voice

chased away darkness, ushered in light.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062871589
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	09/20/2022
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	119,967
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 11.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Renée Watson is a #1 New York Times bestselling author. Her young adult novel Piecing Me Together (Bloomsbury, 2017) received a Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award. Her children’s picture books and novels for teens have received several awards and international recognition. Her picture books include A Place Where Hurricanes Happen, Harlem’s Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills, and The 1619 Project: Born on the Water, written with Nikole Hannah-Jones. Renée grew up in Oregon and splits her time between Portland and Harlem.

Bryan Collier has won four Caldecott Honors for Martin’s Big Words by Doreen Rappaport, Rosa by Nikki Giovanni, Trombone Shorty by Troy Andrews, and Dave the Potter by Laban Carrick Hill. He is also the illustrator of the New York Times bestseller All Because You Matter by Tami Charles. His first book, Uptown, won the Coretta Scott King Award and the Ezra Jack Keats Award. He is the recipient of five more Coretta Scott King Awards and three Coretta Scott King Honors.

Editorial Reviews

★ 08/29/2022

In allusive biographical poems that focus on their subject’s developing voice, Watson recounts the life of activist and author Maya Angelou (1928–2014), beginning with her St. Louis birth as Marguerite Annie Johnson and ending with her reading at Bill Clinton’s 1993 presidential inauguration. Evocative lines detail Angelou’s time living across the U.S. and Ghana, her five years of silence following the childhood assault that “hurt her body, hurt her soul,” and the gradual development of her voice and love for poetry (“Once you start speaking again,/ ain’t nobody gonna be able to shut you up,” her Momma Annie says). Collier’s richly textured assemblage of collage and watercolor employs light, pattern, and subtle imagery that add depth to every image as Angelou is shown maturing into an adult, working alongside peers in the struggle for freedom (including “Brother Jimmy, Brother Martin”), and writing toward the publication of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Concluding with a close-up image of Angelou and an affirmation (“She alone was enough”), this is a thoughtfully rendered biography of a dazzling figure. A biographical timeline and creators’ notes conclude. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"Told in a series of vignettes as verse, with Collier’s remarkably textured backdrops shifting as Angelou adapts, changes and matures, “Maya’s Song” is testament to how the worst of life can be the bedrock of beauty and flourishing: 'word-seeds' from 'a whole garden of words, words growing inside.'"
— New York Times Book Review

"Eloquent free verse poems recall pivotal events in the life of Maya Angelou. Layered illustrations reinforce the weight of words—and their absence. This exquisite tribute to one of America’s most influential poets arrives just in time for young people to celebrate Angelou’s appearance on the quarter." — Booklist (starred review)

"A loving tribute in free verse to a writer who found her home, and herself, in her words." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Collier’s richly textured assemblage of collage and watercolor employs light, pattern, and subtle imagery that add depth to every image... This is a thoughtfully rendered biography of a dazzling figure." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Watson doesn’t shy away from addressing tough topics. Collier’s accomplished illustrations have a strong narrative pull. This eloquent picture book is a portrait of a resilient woman with a deep capacity for using words to find hope in the world." — The Horn Book

From the Publisher

★ 10/01/2022

Gr 2–6—This in-depth biography in poems, with unsurpassable watercolor and collage illustrations, begins with Angelou's birth in 1928 and concludes with her delivering a poem at Bill Clinton's 1993 inauguration. Readers will gain an understanding of Angelou from her childhood experiences, excerpts of her writing, and adult accomplishments and friendships (with, for example, James Baldwin, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X). Though many details of her life story are not included, readers will be curious to learn more about this captivating person. Collier uses a dim blue-gray to reflect negative events and the feelings that accompany them: at times throughout Angelou's life, "Sometimes bad things happen./ Sometimes darkness comes." "Word-seeds" and poetry pull Angelou from her silence so she can make her voice heard, and the colors lighten correspondingly. Angelou moved and traveled frequently, from a San Francisco nightclub to Harlem's Apollo to a market in Accra, Ghana; Collier's striking market scene uses collage to emphasize foods and fabrics. Portraits of Angelou herself show her solemn, thoughtful, and powerful throughout, finally smiling broadly on the final page. Includes a time line, author's note, and illustrator's note. VERDICT Poetic and superbly illustrated, this tour de force belongs in every library.—Jenny Arch

School Library Journal

★ 2022-07-13
A loving tribute in free verse to a writer who found her home, and herself, in her words.

“Once you start speaking again, / ain’t nobody gonna be able to shut you up.” Filling out a biographical framework that begins in 1928 with the birth of Marguerite Annie Johnson into a loving family and ends in 1993 with her reading at President Bill Clinton’s first inauguration, Watson chronicles poet Maya Angelou’s travels from St. Louis to California, Ghana to Harlem and links with friends like “Jimmy” Baldwin, as well as the way she gathered “word-seeds” even through the years of silence after “her mother’s boyfriend / hurt her body, hurt her soul.” In his painted collages, Collier alludes to that silence with a broad, striped ribbon across closed lips in the course of portraying his subject with the same look of dignified reserve throughout her growth from infancy to adulthood. Using a slowly brightening palette, he surrounds her throughout with similarly brown faces until closing with a final bright, smiling solo close-up: “No holding her head down, no hiding. No more silence. / She didn’t have the pitch-perfect voice others had, / but she had her songs, her stories.” In their notes, Watson and Collier both speak to the inspirational power of Angelou’s persistence and courage. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A soaring portrait of a “Black girl whose voice / chased away darkness, ushered in light.” (timeline) (Picture-book biography. 7-10)

Kirkus Reviews