Poetry: Life Doesn't Frighten Me

Title: Life Doesn't Frighten Me 

Author: Maya Angelou
Illustrator: Jean- Michel Basquiat 

Genre: Poetry

Major Awards:  N/A 

Age Group: 4-8 years old 

One thing that is so beautiful about poetry is that the meaning and interpretation is truly in the eye of the beholder. In Life Doesn’t Frighten Me by Maya Angelou, Angelou has almost created a mantra for herself and for anyone that reads the poem. Throughout the poem she's highlighting all the things that would normally cause fear and keeps repeating “Life doesn’t frighten me at all”. The poem is heavily centered around rising above and overcoming fear, and having confidence and faith in one’s self to do so. One of my favorite lines from the poem is "I've got a magic charm that I keep up my sleeve, I can walk the ocean floor and never have to breathe". To me this line is subtle yet so profoundly speaking of faith, and how through faith and trust you can find this fearlessness in yourself. Both the images and the poem itself hold such a powerful, yet youthful and personable message about being fearless in life. 

In Elementary School, I participated in the schools speech and debate team. I remember one of the first poems I ever recited and performed was "Life Doesn't Frighten Me" by Maya Angelou. This is such a wonderful book that can be read to students as early as Prekindergarten, and would be a great edition to any PreK- 3rd grade library. For the younger students, the predictable text and repetition of the phrase " Life doesn't  frighten me at all" makes it an excellent book for them to engage in choral reading with. I believe that the poem itself sends a wonderful message and would make for meaningful discussions in class about fear and ways to face our fears. In conjunction with the poem itself, the illustrations and paintings by Jean- Michel Basquiat are exquisite and abstract and allow for a lot of interpretation as well. As an activity, students can write their own poems or stories of things that they fear, and for younger students, they could draw the things they fear and display both the writing and the illustration around the classroom.