The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba & Bryan Mealer

Title: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Author: William Kamkwamba & Bryan Mealer
Age Group: Adults
# of Pages: 273
My Rating: 3.5/5

William Kamkwamba is a Malawian whose life changed forever when he discovered his love for science.

Due to poverty, William's parents were unable to keep him in school. Instead, he had to help his father in the fields to help put food on the table. Life is hard in Malawi for its people when food is scarce and problems such as natural disasters and famine are very common throughout.

One day when William went to the library, he picked up a book on science. After reading it, he became curious and returned for more. This later on sparked an idea; he wanted to make a windmill to generate electricity for his home.

From a small inspiration, William was able to create something that had brought attention from everyone in his country and the entire world. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is an inspirational story about working hard on what you believe in to make it come true, no matter what other people say and the difficult obstacles you face.

This novel took a really long time for me to get through because it is a biography. Biographies, as you know, are real stories about real people. Therefore, you can not expect big plots to ensue when there will be none because it is not a fictional story.

However, I found this novel to be very educational and inspiring. It teaches the reader a lot about the conditions in Africa and how developed countries should really step in to help. A lot of students in North America are not so fond of being forced to go to school everyday. While we here take education for granted, you see that it is highly valued in other parts of the world. There are kids out there who will never be able to go past elementary school and because of this, those who could potentially change the world will not be discovered. William is just one out of a thousand from his country who is able to take his interest of science to a higher level, and all he had were old textbooks. After reading this novel, it made me reflect a lot upon my own life.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is a read that will urge you to pursue after your dreams. It may be more suitable for a mature audience who would appreciate biographies a lot more than the younger generation.

Review copy provided by HarperCollins.