MOM & ME & MOM

Young Maya and her brother, Bailey, live in Stamps, Arkansas, with their paternal grandmother until the segregated South gets too dangerous for teenaged, hot-headed Bailey. Then, the children return to California to live with their mother, Vivian Baxter. Angelou’s performance captures the prickly early days when 13-year-old Maya first meets her mother. We hear Maya’s growing respect for Vivian’s indomitable spirit as Vivian proves to be Maya’s strongest supporter, encouraging her to go after life with “power and determination.” You won’t want to stop listening to Angelou’s melodic cadences as she tells of a disastrous visit to her father; of being nearly beaten to death; and of her enviable relationship with her tenacious mother. Each character leaps into full-bodied life, and Angelou’s crisp, compressed prose creates unforgettable poetic imagery. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2013]