Books with title Poetry for Young People: Maya Angelou

An acclaimed anthology receives a new design and cover! Award-winning writer, historian, and civil rights activist Dr. Maya Angelou is a true American icon. 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.” Award-winning artist Jerome Lagarrigue masterfully illustrates each verse, and renowned academic Dr. Edwin Graves Wilson, a longtime colleague of Dr. Angelou, has written the book's introduction, introductions to the poems, and annotations.

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.

The writers include Blake, Dickinson, Tennyson, Yeats, Wordsworth, and Keats. The captivating paintings by Simona Mulazanni make every page a delight. And the subject—animals, big and small, wild and tame— has an irresistible appeal to children. William Blake’s “The Tyger” burns bright in the lush image that accompanies the verse. Hillaire Belloc pays tribute to an elephant in a short, witty stanza accompanied by an adorable picture of the creature sitting on a small wood stool. Among the other poems are Marianne Moore’s “A Jellyfish” and Edward Lear’s charming, songlike “The Owl and the Pussycat.”A Selection of Scholastic Book Clubs.John Hollander has written A Crackling of Thorns (chosen by W. H. Auden for the Yale Series of Younger Poets), as well as literary criticism and children’s books. He has served as editor for many poetry collections, among them An Anthology of Poems for Young People (with Harold Bloom). He is currently the Sterling Professor of English at Yale.Simona Mulazanni is a successful and much loved children’s book artist in Italy.