Life Doesn't Frighten Me by Maya Angelou
Illustrations and passage from munchkin's favorite section
Loving the illustrations by Jean-Michel Basquiat
by Maya Angelou, with illustrations by Jean-Michel Basquiat, edited by Sara Jane Boyers
This is a gem of a book, and I first encountered it at a little merchant stall downstairs from my old job. It uses a poem written by the great Maya Angelou with illustrations by the ever so talented Jean-Michel Basquit (I do harbor a soft spot for him! So short-lived and yet quite prolific during this days).
The poem goes as follows:
Shadows on the wall
Noises down the hall
Life doesn't frighten me at all
Bad dogs barking loud
Big ghosts in a cloud
Life doesn't frighten me at all
Mean old Mother Goose
Lions on the loose
They don't frighten me at all
Dragons breathing flame
On my counterpane
That doesn't frighten me at all.
I go boo
Make them shoo
I make fun
Way they run
I won't cry
So they fly
I just smile
They go wild
Life doesn't frighten me at all.
Tough guys fight
All alone at night
Life doesn't frighten me at all.
Panthers in the park
Strangers in the dark
No, they don't frighten me at all.
That new classroom where
Boys all pull my hair
(Kissy little girls
With their hair in curls)
They don't frighten me at all.
Don't show me frogs and snakes
And listen for my scream,
If I'm afraid at all
It's only in my dreams.
I've got a magic charm
That I keep up my sleeve
I can walk the ocean floor
And never have to breathe.
Life doesn't frighten me at all
Not at all
Not at all.
Life doesn't frighten me at all.
Noises down the hall
Life doesn't frighten me at all
Bad dogs barking loud
Big ghosts in a cloud
Life doesn't frighten me at all
Mean old Mother Goose
Lions on the loose
They don't frighten me at all
Dragons breathing flame
On my counterpane
That doesn't frighten me at all.
I go boo
Make them shoo
I make fun
Way they run
I won't cry
So they fly
I just smile
They go wild
Life doesn't frighten me at all.
Tough guys fight
All alone at night
Life doesn't frighten me at all.
Panthers in the park
Strangers in the dark
No, they don't frighten me at all.
That new classroom where
Boys all pull my hair
(Kissy little girls
With their hair in curls)
They don't frighten me at all.
Don't show me frogs and snakes
And listen for my scream,
If I'm afraid at all
It's only in my dreams.
I've got a magic charm
That I keep up my sleeve
I can walk the ocean floor
And never have to breathe.
Life doesn't frighten me at all
Not at all
Not at all.
Life doesn't frighten me at all.
The story can be interpreted in so many ways, but for the young imaginative mind — it teaches them courage, endurance, compassion, and humor. My little one can recite the whole thing by heart, especially this particular passage below, which he wrote for his school’s project.
I also love the lesson taught here, that no matter how difficult and dark the obstacles and nights may seem... we are never afraid, and we shall prevail — because life doesn’t frighten me at all... not at all.
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