Beavercreek grad’s book on bestseller list
“World of Wonders” by Aimee Nezhukumatathil was called “hands down one of the most beautiful books of the year.”
The accolades are pouring in for a Beavercreek High School graduate’s new book that stormed onto the New York Times Best Sellers list in recent weeks.
“World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments” was written by class of 1992 BHS grad Aimee Nezhukumatathil. The book was reviewed as “Hands-down one of the most beautiful books of the year” by National Public Radio.
The book has made the the New York Times Best Sellers list in the “Hardcover Nonfiction” category for six weeks, peaking earlier this month at No. 5 — just ahead of Michelle Obama’s “Becoming.” Last week, in its sixth week on the list, it was No. 13.
“World of Wonders” was named Barnes & Noble’s 2020 Book of the Year, a New York Public Library Best Book of 2020, a Literary Hub “Most Anticipated Book of 2020″, and a Smithsonian Magazine “Top Ten Book About Travel of 2020″ — to name a few of the book’s accolades.
The non-fiction book, released in September, is a collection of dreamily illustrated essays about the natural world and the ways it teaches and inspires people.
“We all have wonder as kids,” Nezhukumatathil said in an interview. “One of their first words is ‘Look! Look at this! Look at the bow! Look at this tree, look at this leaf, it looks like Florida!’ You don’t have to tell them to be curious because they just are. So it’s more of just kind of like reminders, not just how do you start, but a reminder of what you had as a child and everybody had.”
“When I say, ‘Oh, we didn’t expect this,’ we truly didn’t,” Nezhukumatathil said. “I tell my kids to reach for the stars, but this was like, into another galaxy. I sound a little ridiculous, you know, I’m not trying to sell myself short, it’s just, that’s the reality.”
Working on “World of Wonders” over the past 10 years, Nezhukumatathil said she spent two days of being saddened in March when it became clear the book’s tour wouldn’t be happening as planned due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is when you’d see on the news, people being carted-out and having like makeshift morgues … I was like, ‘Who am I to be sad about my book (tour)?’ And that really put things in perspective.”
Humbled by the book’s reception, Nezhukumatathil explained how even though she’d authored successful books before “World of Wonders,” there was a certain doubt she still carried about writing a nature-themed, non-fiction book.
“I’ve been reading about the outside world since I could read,” Nezhukumatathil said. “I didn’t know who Dr. Seuss was. I just assumed that was one of my mom’s doctor friends. You know, I was thinking, ‘Who is this guy a lot of people seem to know?’ Because I was on the other side of the library, when all my other friends were reading ‘The BabySitters Club’ and I was reading like, ‘History of Volcanoes,’ or ‘The Search for the Giant Squid.’”
With an insatiable curiosity for nature, Nezhukumatathil grew up
Rabbi Judy Chessin of Temple Beth Or in Washington Twp. says the Hebrew “Shehechiyanu” prayer is appropriate for important “first moments” whether they are big or small — the first day of school, the purchase of a new car, the welcoming of a new year, or the first taste of new seasonal fruit.
“Such milestones remind us never to take any blessing for granted and to celebrate life,” she says. “As such, as we receive the COVID-19 vaccine, we participate in a miraculous first. We receive the vaccine in honor of those who have suffered and died from this disease, in tribute to those first responders who risked their lives to fight this deathly illness, and in gratitude to all the scientists and medical researchers who have rushed this medicine to our nation and our world. Most of all, we give thanks that we have survived and are here to bless the miracle of life another day.”
Turning to traditional prayer
The prayer that comes to mind for the Rev. Angelo Anthony, pastor of Emmanuel, St. Joseph and Holy Cross Catholic parishes in Dayton, is the Gloria Patri, sometimes known as the Glory Be to the Father prayer. “I chose that one because God created heavens and earth and he is with us in our joys and in our sorrows,” he says. “In this case, it’s the joy of receiving the vaccine. We give praise to God who makes this possible.’
Atia Mirza, a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, says she learned in a recent sermon “that we do as doctors advise us, but we know that if God wants, then he will heal us.” According to Mirza and her father, Ahmad, there are two appropriate prayers that can be recited a few minutes before taking the vaccine, a third when actually receiving it.
The first, from the book Sahih al-Bukhari, translates to: “Oh Allah, Lord of Mankind, do away with my suffering. Heal (me) as You are the only Healer and there is no cure except that of Yours, it is that which leaves no ailment behind.” The second prayer is mentioned in the Holy Quran: “And when I am ill, it is He who restores me to health.” At the time of taking the vaccine, one can
say: ‘Ho wash shafi’ which means that “only God is the healer; or who gives health; or who cures.”
A need for situational prayers
“There are ancient prayers, but sometimes there’s also a need for situational prayers,” says Naomi Levy, author of “Einstein and the Rabbi” and the leader of Nashuva, the Jewish Spiritual Outreach Center in Los Angeles. “How could there have ever been a prayer for 9/11 or a school shooting?”
Doctors and nurses asked if she would compose a prayer for them to recite at the moment they received their COVID-19 vaccination.
“I want people to see there are miracles around us each day,” Levy says. “Not like the miracle of the parting of the Red Sea. This vaccine is a miracle of science brought about by human hands and we feel God is with us, helping us to get through a difficult time.”
Here is her prayer for receiving the vaccine:
I have been praying for this day and now it is here!
With great excitement, a touch of trepidation And with deep gratitude I give thanks
To all the scientists who
toiled day and night
So that I might receive this tiny vaccination
That will protect me and all souls around this world.
With the pandemic still raging
I am blessed to do my part to defeat it.
Let this be the beginning of a new day,
A new time of hope, of joy, of freedom
And most of all, of health. I thank You, God, for blessing me with life
For sustaining my life And for enabling me to reach this awe-filled moment. Amen
Levy also offers workshops to help people find their own voices in prayer. “A lot of people will come to the clergy asking us to pray for them because somehow they feel they don’t have the words,’ she says. ”My goal is to help people realize they have the capacity to speak to God.”