I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

ISBN-10: 0345514408
pages: 304
Published: 1969

Despite all the accolades showered on her, Maya Angelou has often been on the Challenged and Banned Books lists. She is ranked 8^th in the American Library Association List of “Top Ten Challenged Authors 1990 to 2004” (out of 8,332 challenges reported to the Office for Intellectual Freedom.  See link below.) Some of these books are challenged because of their presence on school library book shelves, and others because they have been assigned as required reading in the curriculum.

"This is the autobiography of Maya Angelou's harsh and unpleasant childhood. She and her brother were shuttled from relatives in the dirt poor rural south to then live for a time in St. Louis with their pretty but irresponsible mother. Eventually they met their father. The book shows the ignorance and prejudice of both black and white people in the 30's and 40's. In St. Louis, Maya is molested as a young girl by an acquaintance of her mother. In California, she becomes a delinquent and lives on the streets and in abandoned cars while in her teens. By the time she is in high school she has become pregnant with a child. "
David Fletcher, Resident Scholar 

How I would use it in a classroom
This book has so many themes in it that it would fit into a lot of unit plans. It is smart, coming of age, historical memoir. It would good to practice memoir making in line with this book. 

Playing With Matches by Brian Katcher

ISBN-10: 0385735456
 304 pages

This is a coming of age tale about a conflicted 17 year old young man named Leon Sanders. Leon desires popularity almost as much as he desire the high school fox, Amy. Unfortunately, Leon is a self-proclaimed nerd who can never get a girls attention like that. One day he notices the disfigured Melody, and starts to change the way he feels about himself and everyone around him. A great read for 8th grade and above.

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up—Leon Sanders, 17, a self-described geek, craves the attention of perfection-personified Amy Green, who consistently ignores him. Resigned to life on the fringes of his suburban high school, he takes comfort in knowing that another junior scores zero for popularity: Melody Hennon, whose severely burned face has made her an outcast. When Leon tells Melody a bad joke and gets a genuine laugh, he is surprised to find an actual person behind the scars, and soon discovers that she shares his interests and offbeat humor. When Melody confides the details of her childhood accident, he tells her about a humiliating encounter with a bully that left him emotionally scarred. As their friendship turns to romance, Leon worries about the opinions of others, but people are accepting of their relationship. Then Leon finally catches Amy's eye. Faced with a dilemma, he allows himself to be lured away from the devastated Melody, but is soon overwhelmed by the emotional consequences. Leon's self-deprecating, ironic humor keeps an authentic edge running through the story as he explores new relationships and roles, and wrestles with doing the right thing. Melody is a resilient young woman whose experience with Leon helps her develop self-confidence. This is a strong debut novel with a cast of quirky, multidimensional characters struggling with issues of acceptance, sexuality, identity, and self-worth.—Joyce Adams Burner, Hillcrest Library, Prairie Village, KS
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Three billion women in the world, and the universe couldn’t spare one for Leon Sanders. Leon is a D & D-playing, Monty Python-watching, lame joke–telling, high-school junior. An act of kindness with loner Melody, a burn victim with severe scars and facial disfigurement, leads to friendship and then romance. Leon enjoys her company but worries about what others think, while Melody revels in feeling beautiful for the first time. Following a familiar plot trajectory, Leon pushes Melody aside after the class hottie, Amy, makes her move on him. First-time author Katcher pulls out a nice twist at the end, revealing Melody to be a girl who has been through fire both literally and figuratively and has emerged with uncommon strength. This is a successful blend of laugh-out-loud humor and a serious look at relationships. The secondary characters are delightful, including ADHD friends Jimmy and Johnny, Parking Lot Pete, and even Dan, the junior Hannibal Lector, who has more heart than he lets on. Recommend this to fans of John Green’s books; Katcher is an author to watch. Grades 8-11. --Cindy Dobrez --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

How I would teach this in the class
I think I would use this book more for individual book choice, rather than a class read. it is a great coming of age story that gets the student predicting, and wanting to read ahead.