Of Beatles & Angels

Summary- Mawi and his family move to America with the hopes that they will be able to gain a new and happy life. But coming to a new place, especially a country, can never be easy. Mawi and his family learn how to adapt to America culture and society, while dealing with the many problems when coming to a new country like racism and death.

Author's Purpose-The purpose of this book is to inform the reader of the life of an immigrant when they move to a new country. Mawi wanted to share with us his life and show us what it's like living in his position. He also wanted to tell us how knowledge is important ans that you should always treat someone like an Angel, hence the title of the story Of Beatles and Angels

Theme-Mawi shows how prejudice and racism came into his life and how his family struggled to fit in with a new society. It also shows us that anyone can be success and learn to better themselves as a person and with knowledge. It also had to do with family. Mawi was very close with his brother and father. Both had shown him how to become stronger and he used that in order to make his life fulfilled.

Personal Moment-I was always able to connect with Mawi whenever he was being bullied. They were sad moment in the book and showed how he grew into the kind, and respectable adult he is today. Because of my color, I can understand what he was going through when a person was racist to him. Being bullied and having to fend for yourself is never easy, and I liked how he and his brother tried to listen to their father when he said that they should never fight no matter what happens.

Final Thoughts-I thought this book was a great read. It teaches us what it's like or people outside of our country and the hardships they have to endure. It also helps us learn about how we must have confidence in ourselves if we wish to keep going forwards and that there is always at least one person who will have your back. It's about family, love, hardship and achieving your dreams. The book is inspiring for someone like me and I highly recommend it for those who want to feel better or are looking for something that is true.


Here are some of the reviews that went with the book. Both Publishers Weekly and Booklist greatly enjoyed the book. Here's what they have to say.

Reviews

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 -

Here are the link to the book. I hope that some will be interesting because it's an excellent read with a very touching story. It's good to see what it's like for people outside of one's country feel like when moving to an entirely new place. Some may be able to even relate to Mawi or at least root for his family to find a way to get through the hardships they face. If you want something that's a nice read and has a good protagonist, I highly suggest this book.
Links to buy 

http://www.amazon.com/Of-Beetles-Angels-Remarkable-Journey/dp/0316826200 

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/of-beetles-and-angels-mawi-asgedom/1005217720?ean=9780970498267 

Link for more reviews 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/153281.Of_Beetles_and_Angels