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14th out of 38 books
—
26 voters
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (picture book)
by
William Kamkwamba (Goodreads Author),
Bryan Mealer, Elizabeth Zunon
When fourteen-year-old William Kamkwamba's Malawi village was hit by a drought, everyone's crops began to fail. Without enough money for food, let alone school, William spent his days in the library . . . and figured out how to bring electricity to his village. Persevering against the odds, William built a functioning windmill out of junkyard scraps, and thus became the lo...more
Hardcover, 32 pages
Published
January 19th 2012
by Dial
(first published September 29th 2009)
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This review has been revised and can now be found at Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud.
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This picture book version of the nonfiction book manages to translate the story of William Kamkwamba with clarity and inspiration. When a drought hit his village in Malawi in 2001 and 2002, 14-year-old William and his family were in real danger of starving. William had always through about machines and even after he was forced to leave school due to the drought, he kept reading books about them. He thought about what could be done with a windmill in his village, bringing light and water. So he h...more
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This is the picture book version of the story of William Kamkwamba, a 14-year-old boy living in Malawi. In his small village, he dreamed of building things and taking them apart. He wondered about how an engine made a truck go while he worked in the fields of maize. When his village began to starve due to a severe drought, he began to search the American library for answers. He had to translate the English science books into his language. Slowly, hope began to grow. Could he build a windmill to...more
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is a nominee for the 2013-2014 South Carolina Picture Book Award.
This wonderful nonfiction book, written by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer and illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon, tells young William's story of life in drought-ravaged Malawi. Instead of accepting things as they were, William visited the village library, learned more about renewable energy, and proceeded to build a windmill that would bring electricity to his village. Although many people called him...more
This wonderful nonfiction book, written by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer and illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon, tells young William's story of life in drought-ravaged Malawi. Instead of accepting things as they were, William visited the village library, learned more about renewable energy, and proceeded to build a windmill that would bring electricity to his village. Although many people called him...more
The Boy who Harnessed the Wind offers a great sense of science through a multicultural lens. The story of William Kamkwamba, a Malawian boy whose family could not afford to send him to school with crops to take in, provides every student with a sense of struggle in learning. But William's perseverance and determination led him study science in his spare time, until he could make windmills to give his village electricity and fresh water.
William's story is a miracle and the inspiration and passion...more
William's story is a miracle and the inspiration and passion...more
The book, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, by William Kankwamba, is a cute story about a little boy. William Kamkwamba was born and raised in Wimbe, Malawi, and was just 14 when he was forced to drop out of high school for lack of school fees, because his family needed every dollar for food to survive a deadly famine that was taking place. William was determined to created a future for himself so he went to a recently-built community lending library and there he saw a picture of a windmill. The b...more
This autobiographical picture book tells the story of fourteen-year-old William, growing up in dry Malawi. Drought took a toll on his father's farm, and William was forced to drop out of school because there was no money to pay for it. So he took responsibility for his own education. He walked to the local library (a gift from Americans) and checked out science books of all types. He was interested in them all, but was fascinated by photos and descriptions of a windmill. Determined to build one,...more
This book is based on the true story of William Kamkwamba who was born in Malawi. During his childhood, the people of Malawi suffered through a terrible drought. William's family didn't have enough money to send William to school (which costs money in that country) nor to feed the entire family more than one meal a day. William mourned not being able to go to school and eventually found his way to the public library in his town where he checked out science books. In one of these books, William l...more
I was inspired by Kamkwamba's book for adults and so I felt like this picture book was a bit slight, but still it tells such a good story.
Drought comes to William's village in Malawi and crops die. William is so poor he eats only one meal a day, and he has to quit school. The village doesn't have electricity, but it does have a library with donated books. William finds an old science book in English that explains how windmills generate electricity. Windmills can power pumps that draw water up f...more
Drought comes to William's village in Malawi and crops die. William is so poor he eats only one meal a day, and he has to quit school. The village doesn't have electricity, but it does have a library with donated books. William finds an old science book in English that explains how windmills generate electricity. Windmills can power pumps that draw water up f...more
William is just a boy in his village of Malawi. There is no money for lights and farmers were very poor. William’s family was forced to eat only one meal a day because the village was starving. Forced to drop out of school, William researched ways he can “harness” the wind to feed his village.
The Boy who Harnessed the Wind is a true story that students can learn about taking action against poverty. Instead of sulking when he could no longer attend school, he decided to use his research skills to...more
The Boy who Harnessed the Wind is a true story that students can learn about taking action against poverty. Instead of sulking when he could no longer attend school, he decided to use his research skills to...more
Feb 07, 2013
Judy Desetti
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
teachers grades 2-5
Recommended to Judy by:
bmj consideration list
AR Reading level 5.3
Wonderful read aloud for students in grades 2-5.
A boy who lives in Africa loves to tinker and wonder what makes things work. As his family and country go into a famine he is denied education and goes to a library to learn. There he discovers a windmill photo and sets out to build one.
The story is true and wonderful for students to hear and learn how people can be resourceful. This has such a happy ending with the boy being discovered by journalists and eventually being give...more
Wonderful read aloud for students in grades 2-5.
A boy who lives in Africa loves to tinker and wonder what makes things work. As his family and country go into a famine he is denied education and goes to a library to learn. There he discovers a windmill photo and sets out to build one.
The story is true and wonderful for students to hear and learn how people can be resourceful. This has such a happy ending with the boy being discovered by journalists and eventually being give...more
Based on a true story, it is about a boy who lives in Malawi, Africa and relies on his families ability to farm to live. Drought causes a famine and William is forced to drop out of school because his family is unable to pay for him to go. He becomes motivated to build electric wind after finding a book in a nearby library. Great story that can be used in so many different ways. One is for those that do responsive classroom and need a book to use for hopes/dreams. It is also a way to show creati...more
William Kamkwamba, a young boy growing up in Malawi, solves his family's electricity problem by designing and building his own windmill.
I read about Kamkwamba in The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope and found this picture book adaptation to be clear, accurate, and inspirational.
Recommended for elementary students, this is a great title to add to school STEM and nonfiction collections.
I read about Kamkwamba in The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope and found this picture book adaptation to be clear, accurate, and inspirational.
Recommended for elementary students, this is a great title to add to school STEM and nonfiction collections.
When his family slowly begins to starve due to the severe drought in Malawi in Africa, fourteen-year-old William Kamkwamba decides to do something about it. Although despair over the family's situation could have overwhelmed him once he was forced to stop attending school, William used an English dictionary to help him comb through science books at the library that might help him solve the villagers' need for water and for electricity. The mechanically-inclined young man was inspired by the pict...more
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer is the touching, inspirational story of a drought-ridden land and a fourteen-year-old boy who worked to change things in his poverty-stricken village.
The book is beautifully illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon, and in many illustrations she seems to use cutouts to create strikingly unusual images. Her drawings remind the reader of primitive paintings.
William lived in Malawi, and when a drought resulted in famine, his village was sev...more
The book is beautifully illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon, and in many illustrations she seems to use cutouts to create strikingly unusual images. Her drawings remind the reader of primitive paintings.
William lived in Malawi, and when a drought resulted in famine, his village was sev...more
The long version of the book is excellent and multi-dimensional. This shorter picture book was narrowly focussed on the boy's windmill construction, so missed some of the background and context of the fascinating true story. My children really enjoyed hearing snippets from the long book while I was reading it, but they did not find the picture book very interesting. That was in spite of the excellent illustrations.
I had heard of this story, but did not know the details before. So neat! I love hearing about people who figure out to do things, even when their resources are limited. It makes me remember how I too often take for granted the things I have available to me. These people are inspiring, and this story is heart-warming. I'm so glad he has had opportunities come to him, and that he has been able to help so many.
True story of the young inventor, William Kamkwamba who made it happen electrcity and running water to his village. William grew up near the village of Wimbe, central Malawi Africa. Illustrator and authors including William himself from different regions in Africa- Wimbe and Ivory Coast, West AFrica. It is good to have a story from actual person who participated in writing the story. Great illustration too!
This book was about a boy, who's family was struggling, built a windmill to help his family get back on track. He learned to read English where he learned from a library how to build the windmill. I think this book is great for k-2. I liked this book because it encourages reading and pushing for achievement. I think this would be a great book for any day in the classroom
When his Mawali village was facing a drought, William Kamkwamba used the resources at his local library to learn how to build a windmill for his village. This windmill brought electricity and later an irrigation system to his village. William was 14 when he built his village's first windmill!
Amazing story, beautifully told. Inspiring.
Amazing story, beautifully told. Inspiring.
May 01, 2013
Sally Kendrick
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Everyone
Recommended to Sally by:
Lisa Kendrick
Fabulous book. True story of a young Malawian who worked in the fields because his family couldn't afford to pay for his schooling. He loved science and read about how to build a windmill. Great young man and great story of his tremendous ability to keep trying and his success. "If you want to make it, all you have to do it try."
This is the true story of William Kamkwamba the 14 year old that made windmills bringing electricity and water to his desperately poor village. He taught himself at the library and constructed the windmills from scraps he found in the junkyard. Elizabeth Zunin's oil paint and cut paper illustrations bring this story to life beautifully.
This book has so many great messages and is really an amazing true story. William's desire to help his family who struggled to survive the Malawi drought was fueled by curiosity and the use of the library! Reading the information at the back of the book to children lets them know where William is today and his plans for the future.
Mar 13, 2012
June
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
young students for black history month
Shelves:
biography,
black-history
A young picture book biography, of a fourteen year old boy in Malawi, who teaches himself to build a windmill to bring electricity to his home, after a drought and famine cause him to drop out of school. William uses the library and deciphers the English science books with a dictionary. In the afterword we discover several years later he built a "Green Machine" which pulled water from a small well and fed his mother's garden. He was discovered by some journalists and invited to speak at the TED...more
First of all, I read "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" on the We Give Books website- http://www.wegivebooks.org - since for every book I read on their site I'm helping kids worldwide get access to their own books. It's a real cool and simple idea.
"The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" is one of those books that was originally written for adults- it was a memoir- rewritten for a younger audience- like "Listen to the Wind" was the kid version of "Three Cups of Tea."
While the story is simplified, the mess...more
"The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" is one of those books that was originally written for adults- it was a memoir- rewritten for a younger audience- like "Listen to the Wind" was the kid version of "Three Cups of Tea."
While the story is simplified, the mess...more
A very nice memoir of a boy who wanted to build a windmill to obtain electricity in rural areas of Malawi. But the book covers much more than that and for me it gave a good picture of what the life of poverty and famine can mean in Africa. Inspiring and recommended reading. Four stars for the book, five stars for the deed.
Didn't think to take notes while I had it from the library...but....I did enjoy this one. I just loved the illustrations, and the story was just as great as I was expecting. I had heard great things about the full-length (adult) book, and while I still want to read it at some point, it was nice to have a children's picture book version that I could read now.
Beautiful paper craft illustrations set this book apart. The story is moving. I wish there was a glossary and pronunciation guide included to explain some of the foreign words, though. The afterword is inspiring. I recommend the title.
William dreamed of building things in his homeland of Malawi. When a drought hits his country, William visits the library to learn how to use things he found in the junkyard to build a windmill to help his family.
This story focuses on a boy who builds a windmill out of scraps to help his village generate electricity. Great for engineering and showing students that it does not take much to build something great.
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William Kamkwamba was born August 5, 1987 in Malawi, and grew up on his family farm in Wimbe, two and half hours northeast of Malawi’s capital city. William was educated at Wimbe Primary School, completing 8th grade and was then accepted to secondary school. Due to severe famine in 2001-2002, his family lacked funds to pay $80 in school fees and William was forced to drop out in his freshman year....more
More about William Kamkwamba...
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