Tag: Malawi

Review: Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

“Mrs. Sikelo took me behind a curtain to a smaller room, where three floor-to-ceiling shelves were filled with books. It smelled sweet and musty, like nothing I’d ever encountered.” page 161

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer.
William Morrow, HarperCollins, New York, 2009.  My P.S. edition 2010.
New York Times Bestseller.
Lexile:  960L  .
AR Level:  6.4 (worth 15.0 points)  .
NOTE: There are three books with this title.  This review is of the adult edition.  There is also a picture book and a young reader’s edition chapter book.

William Kamkwamba had access to a small library and a scrapyard full of parts, and a dream – to ensure that his family would never starve again.  Against all odds and despite ridicule, he built a windmill and brought electricity to his family’s rural Malawian home.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

This book surprised me.  I knew the basic premise – boy builds windmill with scrap parts to bring change to his village.  But I didn’t realize that this was actually the story of Kamkwamba’s life, which starts long before windmills were even a gleam in his eye.

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