Comments (14)

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope
What did you think about this title?
1 to 14 of 14 items
Jan 26, 2023Principoo rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
A wonderful eBook to read about an amazing young boys life. His hardships and his amazing drive and talen
Aug 14, 2021IntrovertReader rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
William Kamkwamba is a Malawian boy who is fascinated by science. His farming family wants him to continue his education past roughly the elementary level but they just don’t have the tuition money after a famine spreads across the…
Feb 10, 2020DBRL_IdaF rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
When William Kamkwamba was a young teen, famine struck his country of Malawi. His father, a farmer, did not have enough money to pay his school fees. Even as his family, and entire community, faced near starvation, William was determined…
Jul 16, 2019Chloekim0815 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This true story book inspired my heart. William Kamkwamba Was a courageous and never gave up. When him and his family was facing starvation and problems with their farm, he had an idea to make a wind mill that would bring water. When I was…
Nov 26, 2018IndyPL_SteveB rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
This is the inspiring true story of a young man from a tiny village in the African country of Malawi. Grinding poverty, drought, and a culture which placed superstition far above science made schooling impossible and starvation likely;…
Oct 12, 2018darladoodles rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
William Kamkwamba has faced so many more hardships in his life than we can even imagine, yet has overcome and conquered. His dream of bringing electricity to his family's home was realized when he was just a teenager and was unable to go…
Nov 05, 2017Liber_vermis rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
This autobiography (with assistance of a 'ghost' writer) is mainly about the series of droughts in the late 90s and early 00s that plunged the author's subsistence farming family into debt and forced the author to quit school. The memoir…
Mar 31, 2017rationallady rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Besides the inspiring story of a poor African overcoming adversity, this true story shows the day to day life of poverty, including living through a famine-yet it is never depressing.
Aug 29, 2016sgronhovd rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Will recommend to others. Some background knowledge from children's picture book Galimoto helped me visualize. Reinforced my idea that encouraging children's curiosity about why and how, inventing and devising their own toys, etc. better…
Oct 03, 2015amywitherow rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I listened to the audio version of this book and really liked it. I was impressed by the enthusiasm and commitment of the teenager towards science and to the solution of his problems, in particular providing light at home so he could read…
Jun 04, 2014ideaLAB_Mandy rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Inspiring story of a teenager who brought stable electricity access to his small Malawi village by building a windmill. In doing so he changed not only his village, but the course of his life. Don't miss Kamkwamba's Ted Talk from 2009.…
Dec 23, 2011GetLitLou rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
A wonderful book, well written and engaging. It shows what happens when people have access to libraries!
brendanjon
Apr 26, 2011brendanjon rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
A great book that is a fun read. I enjoyed learning about a person overcoming major adversity in his life to bring electric power to his home and village and in turn create power over his whole life.
Mar 31, 2011imaginethat rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
This book is beautifully written, and its narrator and subject, William Kamkwamba, is a wonderful storyteller. Somehow he weaves his life story, which includes surmounting great hardship and harrowing famine, into an overwhelming tale of…