From Publishers Weekly
In 1983, at age seven, the author and his family arrived in this country, having fled the Eritrean and Ethiopian conflict. "This earnest account of Asgedom's life up to his graduation from Harvard is peppered with powerful moments," wrote PW. Ages 10-up. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
When he was four years old, Asgedom's family left their war-ravaged home in Ethiopia. They spent three years in a Sudanese refugee camp before coming to the U.S. in 1983, where they were settled by World Relief in a wealthy white suburb near Chicago. He later earned a full scholarship to Harvard, where in 1999 he delivered the commencement address. His simple lyrical narrative, both wry and tender, stays true to the child's viewpoint as he grows up, taunted at school, but pretty bad and rough himself. His coming-of-age story is both darkened and enriched by the stories he hears about his parents' lives back home and by the pieces he remembers. At the center of the book is his father, a fierce family disciplinarian, once an all-powerful medical assistant at home, now reduced to a "beetle," unemployed, half-blind, raging at his dependency. Only at the very end, when Asgedom spells out the metaphor of the title, does the message overwhelm the story. What stays with you is the quiet, honest drama of a family's heartrending journey. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Of Beetles and Angels ANNOTATION
An autobiography of a boy who, at the age of three, fled civil war in Ethiopia by walking with his mother and brother to a Sudanese refugee camp, and later moved to Chicago and earned a scholarship to Harvard University. Includes recipes and discussion questions.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
So begins this unforgettable true story of a young boy's remarkable journey: from civil war in east Africa to a refugee camp in Sudan, to a childhood on welfare in an affluent American suburb, and eventually to a full-tuition scholarship at Harvard University. Following his father's advice to "treat all people -- even the most unsightly beetles -- as though they were angels sent from heaven," Mawi overcomes the challenges of racial prejudice, language barriers, and financial disadvantage to build a fulfilling, successful life for himself in his new home. Of Beetles and Angels is at once a compelling survival story and an inspiring model for anyone hoping to experience the American dream.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
In 1983, at age seven, the author and his family arrived in this country, having fled the Eritrean and Ethiopian conflict. "This earnest account of Asgedom's life up to his graduation from Harvard is peppered with powerful moments," wrote PW. Ages 10-up. (Sept.)
Kirkus Reviews
The self-published memoir of a young man who traveled from Ethiopia as a refugee to the US and eventually to Harvard is now being brought to YA audiences as a widely publicized paperback reprint. Asgedomﾽs story is compelling; after three years in a refugee camp in the Sudan, his familyﾽmother, father, brother, and sistersﾽmade their way to the Chicago area where, thanks to their own faith and grit and the everyday generosity of their community, they managed to establish a life for themselves. The most vivid character to emerge from this rather scattershot collection of memories is the authorﾽs father, a medical professional in Ethiopia who became a janitor in the US. In upper-case letters, he enjoins his sons to achieve at all costs or "I WILL MAKE YOU LOST." At other moments, he reflects with great glee on his success in helping fellow refugees work their way around the American legal system. After delivering the commencement address at his graduation from Harvard, the author went on to become a motivational speaker, and, unfortunately, this memoir carries the dual burden of too much motivation and too little editing. The formal prose frequently approaches the histrionic, as in this description of the familyﾽs journey from Ethiopia to Sudan: "Even stories fail me as I try to recall the rest of our journey. I know only that the wilderness took its toll, that our young bodies gave way, and that we entered a more barren and deadly internal wilderness." Too, there is more than a hint of self-aggrandizement, as when the author describes his high-school track training: "Fueled by my improvement during the cross-country season, I kept training throughout the brutal Illinois winter. I ranalmost 400 outdoor miles . . . The discipline brought results. In track, I ran the anchor leg on our all-state 4 x 800-meter-relay team. We won our conference championship . . . " Still, there is much in this account for the judiciously selective reader to ponder, and it does genuinely represent a significant portion of the contemporary American experience. (Nonfiction. 12+)
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