Of Beetles and Angels by Mawi Asgedom most DEFINITELY lands on my favorite books of 2021. The bar has been raised with this book and I haven’t stopped thinking about this story since I finished. Prepare to be humbled by this refugee story. Prepare for your heart to hurt with the constant uphill journey for Mawi and his family. Prepare your heart to break with sadness and to cry happy tears. This book is just THAT GOOD!
Let Me Preface This…
- I knew Mawi as an acquaintance growing up. We worked at the same summer job doing different things. He was a few years older than me. He went to a different high school. I didn’t know a single thing about his background before my sister said I HAD to read this book.
- I volunteer for our school district’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee. Within that group, I took the lead this school year on a book club that focuses on diverse stories, authors, perspectives. Of Beetles and Angels was our middle school-aged book selection. The summary speaks for itself. The author was local growing up. His sister teaches in the district. It felt like a natural fit to select this book.
Start With The End…
The subtitle on the cover reads ‘A Boy’s Remarkable Journey From a Refugee Camp to Harvard.’ So I’m not spoiling it by saying that Mawi successffully beat the odds in this underdog true story. What you’ll read, however, is nothing short of a movie plot. And yet, Mawi’s story is happening to refugees everywhere. If that doesn’t shake you, nothing will.
Mawi’s father left their town ahead of them. Mawi’s mother and siblings left their town and landed in a Sudanese refugee camp. Thankfully, the family all reunited safely. I know this isn’t the case for a lot of families.
The conditions described in this book are horrifying.
World Relief
Somehow grace was showered upon the Asgedom family as they were selected to resettle in the US. They ended up in Wheaton, IL, a predominently white suburb of Chicago. This family had nothing. They had no family here. The kiddos barely spoke English. And before they knew it, they were attending school where they weren’t treated kindly.
The shockingly beautiful takeaway is Mawi’s parents’ attitude. They wanted the very best for their children.
“What’s both beautiful and scary about young children is that they will believe most anything that their parents tell them. If our parents had told us that black refugees growing up on welfare in an affluent white community couldn’t excel, we probably would have taken them at their word. But they told us that we could do anything if we worked hard and treated others with respect. And we believed them.”
Tell me that isn’t beautiful and truthful and crushing at the same time?!
Of Beetles and Angels
How did we get to this title, you ask? Mawi explains:
“People always mistreated the angels, my father said, because the angels never looked like angels. They were always disguised as the lowliest of beetles: beggars, vagrants and misfits.”
How absolutely true? Goodness doesn’t always come in packages familiar to you. Or clean and neat and the way you’ve known or seen on TV. Goodness is shown in different ways, demonstrated in different forms. You can be an angel while looking like a beetle. Beetles can be your saving grace.
Love, love, love this idea.
I Won’t Ruin the Rest…
There is a lot of heartache here. Well beyond the trauma of resettling a family a couple of world-sized moves. I think what Mawi and his family have endured would harden the majority of us. Somehow he continues to see good.
Here are the other books we are reading this spring for our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion book club. Give Of Beetles and Angels a spin as well as From the Desk of Zoe Washington, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You and The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down! Amazing!
