The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Starred review from November 15, 2014
The author and his collaborator have condensed the original memoir of the same name, a story of an innovative and compassionate boy coming of age during an era of extreme hardship in Malawi.This newest incarnation of Kamkwamba's tale is as absorbing as its predecessor and still delivers with equanimity facts both disturbing and inspiring. Kamkwamba describes his early life in Masitala, a tiny rural village where, typically, large families of subsistence farmers lived in huts without electricity or running water. Until December 2000, Kamkwamba's life reads like an African parallel to the idyllic, early-20th-century scenes in Sterling North's Rascal: soccer with balls made from plastic bags; juicy mangoes and crunchy grasshoppers; storytelling by the light of a kerosene lamp; experiments with old radio parts; loyal friends and faithful pet. A perfect storm of deforestation, governmental changes, flooding and drought creates a sudden famine. The text does not spare readers the effects of starvation and grinding poverty on humans and animals. However, there are also many descriptions of how and why power-generating inventions work, and the passages about creating tools from almost nothing are reminiscent of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series. Against astounding odds, Kamkwamba's eventual creation of a windmill to bring lighting to his family's home is nothing short of amazing. Compelling and informative for a broad readership and a good addition to STEM collections. (map, prologue, photographs, epilogue, acknowledgments) (Memoir. 11-16)

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Starred review from November 1, 2014

Gr 4-7-This youth edition of the original adult book of the same title has been skillfully adapted for middle grade readers. Kamkwamba recounts a period from his childhood living in a small Malawi village. His family was poor, but they got by working as farmers. Kamkwamba was in elementary school, about to graduate to secondary school, when the drought and famine of the mid-2000s upset the patterns of local life. The author deftly describes the devastating effects upon his family: they ate insects, and rations were reduced to only a single mouthful daily. Many around them suffered even worse. Somehow, the family struggled through until the rains returned to nourish a new crop, but they couldn't afford Kamkwamba's school fees. He farmed with his father but also discovered a local library, where he taught himself to engineer a windmill to draw water to irrigate the fields. Those around him thought he was crazy as he salvaged motor parts, a PVC pipe, his father's broken bicycle, and anything else he could find. Kamkwamba did successfully harness the wind, managing to light his family's house, charge community cell phones for a small income, and pump irrigation water. A school inspection team saw the windmill and brought educators to see the teen engineer, who was invited to speak at the African TED conference and given a scholarship. This is a fascinating, well-told account that will intrigue curious minds, even the somewhat anticlimactic closing chapters describing Kamkwamba's education. There is also a picture book version of this tale (Dial, 2012), making it of interest to all-school reading programs. An inspiring, incredible story.-Dorcas Hand, Annunciation Orthodox School, Houston, TX

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December 15, 2014
Grades 5-8 By now, Kamkwamba's story about his ingenious windmill is well-knownhis 2009 memoir was a New York Times best-sellerand this young reader's edition of that memoir brings his story to a middle-grade audience. It's a good fit, especially since, at 14, Kamkwamba was not much older than his target age group when he set out to build electric wind. After a devastating famine kept him out of school, he taught himself electrical engineering, andequipped with insatiable curiosity and ample brainsKamkwamba succeeded in building a windmill out of junk and found materials to electrify his home. Though some of the descriptions of the electrical components might go over the heads of most middle-grade readers, his inspirational story about determination and a deep love for science will nonetheless strike a chord with aspiring inventors, and the stark descriptions of famine-stricken Malawi will open young readers' eyes to the hard realities of life in a Third World country. Many kids will find a kindred spirit in Kamkwamba.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)