By Audrey Fong
Did you know that whale sharks, the largest sharks in the world, only have throats as wide as golf balls? Did you know axolotls can regrow their limbs indefinitely with no signs of scarring? And that firefly populations are on the decline due to light pollution? Neither did I, but now I do because of Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments.
In World of Wonders, Nezhukumatathil, a poet and an English professor at the University of Mississippi, writes about several of the natural wonders of the world, all of which have either affected her directly or have fascinated her for ages. Made up of a series of short reflections on individual animals or plants, the book is perfect for reading when you’re busy or for reading to children, one animal at a time, before bedtime.
The most obvious thread throughout World of Wonders is Nezhukumatathil’s fascination with nature and the fun facts regarding the animals and plants included. These reflections are often accompanied with beautiful illustrations by Fumi Mini Nakamura, which are what initially drew me to the book. These stories span destinations across the world and flora and fauna of all types: catalpa trees, potoos, narwhals, southern cassowaries, corpse flowers, among others. As a nature lover, I enjoyed the quick informational bits on each organism, which provided me with the most notable features of each one.
A prevalent thread in the book are Nezhukumatathil’s experiences growing up as an Indian and Filipino American. In many of the sections, she ties back the plant’s or animal’s special skills to powers she wish she had growing up. For example, she calls upon the axolotl’s charming smile in one scene, writing, “If a white girl tries to tell you what your brown skin can and cannot wear for makeup, just remember the smile of an axolotl.” In another, she recalls how she “grew up wanting to blend in” like a potoo, reflecting how growing up non-white can often make you stand out against your will for no other reason than your physical appearance. Many of us, who are non-white and live in predominantly white towns, experience this desire to blend in and make ourselves more like the dominant culture, so these moments tap into something universal about growing up othered.
The section that stood out the most was the one on peacocks. During her first trip to southern India, eight-year-old Nezhukumatathil falls in love with peacocks, India’s national bird. In class, she chooses to draw a peacock for a contest only to have the teacher single her out in front of the class, saying, “Some of us will have to start over and draw American animals.” As the only brown girl in her class, this experience humiliates her. In response, she quickly draws a bald eagle with a U.S. flag and ends up winning the drawing contest. However, instead of feeling pride in winning, she continues to feel humiliated and ashamed, and brings these feelings home. She screams at her dad that the peacock decorations in the house are embarrassing; he ends up removing them, showing how this experience affects her feelings about her ethnicity and how it causes discord in her home life.
These days, Nezhukumatathil has reclaimed the peacock as her favorite animal and peacock blue is unabashedly her favorite color. She is lucky to have been able to move forward and reclaim something she loved, but not all of us growing up marginalized have the opportunity to heal from traumas like the one in her peacock section. It makes you wonder how many children today are facing racist microaggressions and how many adults have utterly changed their identity because of them. Nezhukumatathil’s triumph in the peacock section – ultimately returning back to her love for the vibrant birds – is reflective of the collection as a whole in that while she does deal with microaggressions and outright racism, she still leaves these situations optimistic about the world and her book retains a joyful tone.
Initially, World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments seems to be just that – praise for the many natural wonders on our planet. However, upon closer inspection, it is also a reflection on growing up non-white in the U.S. and how those experiences can affect someone for life. Ultimately, it is a joyful look at how one person, Nezhukumatathil, triumphed over some of that trauma to build a happy life for herself as a professor, a poet, a daughter, a wife, and a mother. In understanding that trauma, she wrote a reflection on how nature impacts all of us.
World of Wonders is available from Alexander Book Company, Blue Cypress Books, Eso Won Books, Laguna Beach Books, Loyalty Bookstore, Powell’s City of Books, and Skylight Bookstore.
Audrey Fong is a writer, interested in food, coming of age stories, and Asian American narratives. She earned her B.A. in English from UC Irvine and is currently pursuing an M.F.A. in creative writing from Chapman University. She is the co-founder and co-editor of Soapberry Review.