Banned Books Week Late Review

So I promised myself that I would read one item from the Banned/Challenged books list during Banned Books Week. Ok, so I started reading, sort of, by checking it out during BBW, but I only finished it... well, a month later. There's a reason for it, though.

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. It didn't take all that long to figure out why this book has been challenged, but I was a bit into the book before I had to set it down for awhile. See, the subject matter is ... hard. Really hard. I would absolutely not allow a young child to read this book. I would suggest to teens that they wait until they are ready to tackle something difficult and painful before reading it. That doesn't mean I'm in favor of banning it. I expect parents to make that decision themselves and enforce it, too. After all, that's what parenting is all about. Back to the book... it was painful enough of a subject matter that I found myself wanting to jump back in time to smack some sense into some of my fellow humans. What makes this harder is that it's autobiographical. The knowledge that these events really happened was almost too much to just casually read about. And yet, after finishing it, I wanted to read more. Recommended, but not for kids.