Structure

“Mom & Me and Mom” is separated into thirty chapters of varying lengths that are contained in two main sections: “Mom & Me” and “Me and Mom”. In her dedication, Maya pays tribute to both her mother and her son – the two most important people in her life. In a prologue, the author describes how she is often asked – “How’d you get this way?” The memoir explains, at least in part, that in addition to her natural talents, Maya was blessed with a mother who thought with every fiber of her being that her daughter could do anything.

Throughout the book, there are a number of family photos of Maya, Vivian, Maya’s brother, Bailey, Jr., and her son, Guy. She loved these three people more than anyone else in her life. Following the last chapter is a proclamation by the Mayor of Stockton, California, naming a park...