A review by storiesandsidequests
World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.5

Personal essays interwoven with nature writing; lyrical writing accompanied by beautiful illustrations. As with all collections, some stories were more powerful than others. The one that stood out to me most was “Peacock”, in which Aimee reflects on the way her love for lovely images of peacocks changed after a teacher told her that her drawing from a class assignment wasn’t “American” enough. I enjoyed the tidbits of life as a mixed-race Asian American, but several of the associations between her personal experiences and the natural world seemed to be a bit of a stretch, which took me out of the experience. I also didn’t care too much about all the waxing poetic about children and motherhood in the latter essays. 

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