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A touching memoir showing Maya's relationship to her mother - and to herself!!

Maya and her brother Bailey were sent to live with her grandparents. Maya's mother and dad were divorcing and Mom did not feel she could take care of the kids.

"I was three and Bailey was five when we arrived in Stamps, Arkansas."

Ten years later, Vivian Baxter did ask for them back. Things did not go well, at first.

“Come on, baby, smile for Mother. Come on. Be charitable.... It is a beautiful smile. Mother’s beautiful daughter can smile.��

Many things are revealed about Maya too. She had a son out of wedlock who she kept and named Guy. She eventually married Tosh Angelou, from whom she separated/divorced. She like the name Angelou, so kept it.

Maya could sing, dance and write. She could also teach. A favorite quote:

"I found after teaching one year that I had misunderstood my calling. I had thought that I was a writer who could teach. I found to my surprise that I was actually a teacher who could write."

My favorite quote of all sums up the book well. As Vivian lay dying of liver cancer, Maya said:

"You were a terrible mother of small children, but there has never been anyone greater than you as a mother of a young adult.��

4 stars