World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments

by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Surely the hawks or the Florida heat would soon pierce the thin belly of their bird. Dad gripped the wheel tighter, as if trying to catch his heavy sobs into the dark center of his hands, and suddenly, there it was—the shriek they knew so well, the tiny white Mohawk, the splendid flash of yellow and gray—on the tip-top of the persimmon tree. Even the fruit was unharmed by his tender claws. Dad scooped Chico up into the boat of a black umbrella, and my parents cooed over their wild luck. Later that night they clipped the cockatiel’s wings in the kitchen sink. My parents slept sound that night after walking miles around their neighborhood lake, their bed made extra soft and so full of hope. As Emily Dickinson once wrote, hope is the thing with feathers.

I love this book. 5 stars already