num_pages: 165
description: From beloved award-winning poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil comes a debut work of nonfiction--a collection of essays about the natural world and the way its inhabitants can teach support and inspire us.As a child Nezhukumatathil called many places home: the grounds of a Kansas mental institution where her Filipina mother was a doctor; the open skies and tall mountains of Arizona where she hiked with her Indian father; and the chillier climes of western New York and Ohio. But no matter where she was transplanted--no matter how awkward the fit or forbidding the landscape--she was able to turn to our world's fierce and funny creatures for guidance.What the peacock can do she tells us is remind you of a home you will run away from and run back to all your life. The axolotl teaches us to smile even in the face of unkindness; the touch-me-not plant shows us how to shake off unwanted advances; the narwhal demonstrates how to survive in hostile environments. Even in the strange and the unlovely Nezhukumatathil finds beauty and kinship. For it is this way with wonder: it requires that we are curious enough to look past the distractions in order to fully appreciate the world's gifts.Warm lyrical and gorgeously illustrated by Fumi Nakamura World of Wonders is a book of sustenance and joy.
language: English
title: World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments
publisher: Milkweed Editions