The Boy who Harnessed the Wind

William Kamkwamba grows up in Masitala Village, outside of Kasungu,

Malawi. His family lives on a farm where they grow maize and tobacco. Like
ninety-eight percent of the rest of Malawi, the family does not have electricity.
William describes how the region where he lives has a strong connection to
magic. He has grown up fearing witch doctors and curses.

William’s father, Trywell, was once a traveling trader, but eventually he settled
down to become a farmer. Working on the farm is difficult, but it keeps the
family fed and clothed. William has two close friends, Geoffrey (his cousin) and
Gilbert (who is the son of the village chief). Even at an early age, William is
curious and intelligent. He goes hunting for birds with his friends and devises a
unique trap that allows him to kill several birds at once. 

As William matures, he and Geoffrey become interested in how radios work.

They disassemble many radios, until they learn the functions of all the internal
parts. Eventually, William and Geoffrey become so knowledgeable that they
can fix radios for other people. William becomes interested in bicycle lights that
work off a dynamo that turns against the wheel.

In December of 2000, a large flood devastates Malawi. It is followed by a

prolonged drought. Widespread famine makes everyone desperate. The corrupt
government has sold off all the grain stores that would normally be used for
relief. The new president has also removed all the subsidies that helped farmers
like William’s father. Grain prices rise and people begin to starve across the
country. William’s family cuts back on their meals, eventually only eating one
small meal a day.

When William’s primary school grades are posted, he finds out that he does not
qualify for any of the boarding schools that he wanted to attend. Instead, he and
Gilbert walk to Kachokolo to attend secondary school each day. After a few
weeks, the headmaster announces that all students must pay their fees to keep
attending. William’s family is still having trouble finding enough food, so he
must drop out of school. 

Without money for school and little to do on the farm, William finds a new
hobby. He borrows several physics books from the library in his former primary
school and becomes interested in electric windmills. He dreams of building a
windmill that could power lights and a water pump to irrigate the family farm.
He thinks of the bicycle dynamo and begins to formulate a plan. Instead of
attending school in Kachokolo, William goes to the scrapyard near the school to
harvest parts for his windmill. Gilbert and William stop a traveler and Gilbert
buys the dynamo light from the traveler’s bike for William.

William builds a working windmill from all the pieces that he has collected.
William, Gilbert and Geoffrey cut down several trees and build a sixteen-foot-
tall tower to place the windmill on. As William climbs to the top to attach the
windmill, many people gather to watch. Most of the town has assumed that
William is crazy. They have watched him collect random parts and tinker with
electricity for months. The windmill spins and lights a small bulb that William
has attached to it. Everyone is amazed. 

William gains renown across the region and is eventually recognized by the

head of the Malawi Teacher Training Activity, Dr. Mchazime. As Dr.
Mchazime arranges for William to be interviewed by newspapers and radio
stations, the story spreads. William is eventually invited to attend a TED
conference in Arusha, Tanzania. The audience is amazed by William’s short
presentation. Several individuals help William raise funds to attend an
expensive secondary school and properly wire his home for electricity. William
is able to build a larger windmill that can power a water pump from a deep
well. 

William travels to America, where he gets to see the large windmills in

Southern California that originally inspired him. He is recognized by many
more organizations and gains entrance into the African Leadership Academy in
Johannesburg, South Africa. There, he is surrounded by other young Africans
who have overcome many struggles and work toward building a better future
for Africa.

Originally published: September 29, 2009

Authors: William Kamkwamba, Bryan Mealer
Genres: Biography, Children's literature, Autobiography, Children's non-fiction
literature
Chinese Cinderella
This book is the autobiography of a young Chinese girl, Adeline Yen Mah.
Born the fifth child to an affluent Chinese family, her life begins tragically.
Adeline’s mother died shortly after her birth due to complications bought on by
the delivery, marking her as cursed, or ‘bad luck’, by her siblings. This situation
is compounded by her father’s new marriage to a young French-Asian woman
who has little affection for her husband’s five children. Niang proves to be
difficult and distant towards all of the children, particularly Adeline, whilst
favoring her own younger son and daughter born soon after the marriage.
Denied love from her parents, she finds some solace in relationships with her
grandfather Ye Ye, and her Aunt Baba, sympathetic-yet-weakened adult figures.
Adeline immerses herself in striving for academic achievement in the hope of
winning favor from her father, who reacted positively to her medal for academic
success.

When the Japanese take over mainland China, her father disappears from their
hometown of Tianjin for an extended period of time. Soon after, Niang and her
older boy follow. The next couple of months are considered wonderful, since
the children are under the care of their grandparents, Nai Nai and Ye Ye.
However, Nai Nai's death leads to the return of her father and their move from
Tianjin to Shanghai. There, her father has bought a large mansion where the
entire family is supposed to live.

After standing up to Niang's ill treatment of Youngest Sister, Adeline suffers the
worst at the hands of her stepmother. She is denied carfare, frequently forgotten
at school at the end of the day, and whipped for daring to attend a classmate’s
birthday party against Niang’s wishes. Adeline records her entire childhood,
through several schools and houses, through the people she meets and one very
special duckling pet – Precious Little Treasure (or PLT for short) that she cares
for. She records her sister’s wedding, her school friends, and her on-going quest
for knowledge.

Adeline finds great success at school and gets elected as class president, a time
of momentous joy for her and her classmates. However, when her classmates
choose to bring the celebration to her house, her parents lash out and threaten to
move her to a far away school. Niang's brusque nature and her father's
ambivalence shock Adeline's school friends, who rally about her on the next day
of school. However, when she gets home, she is shocked to find out that she is
being sent to a boarding school in Tianjin immediately. Her ensuing goodbyes
with Aunt Baba and Ye Ye are sorrowful, but filled with uplifting words. On the
flight over, when filling out her new school enrollment record, her father forgets
the spelling of Adeline's Chinese name, adding insult to injury.

Incredibly, her time at her new school (a convent in Tianjin) is capped by its
desertion with the inevitable march of the People's Liberation Party. After being
inadvertently saved by her lovely aunt from Niang's side of the family, Adeline
returns to live with her family, now in Hong Kong. She is quickly sent to
another boarding school, Sacred Heart. Even though Adeline is repeatedly
moved up to grades above those of her peers, it is only when she wins an
international play-writing contest in high school that her father finally takes
notice and grants her wish to attend college in England. Despite her parent’s
heartbreaking neglect, she eventually becomes a doctor and realizes her dream
of being a writer. Originally published: August 2, 1999 Author: Adeline Yen
Mah Genres: Novel, Biography, Autobiographical novel, Fictional
Autobiography
When Life Gives You Mangoes
In this book, we get a look of a 12-year-old girl named Clara. She lives on an
island called Sycamore that used to be ruled by the British and the English in
Jamaica, above a hill in complete seclusion. She has a best friend named
Gaynah who is the daughter of Pastor Brown and Juliette, who both believe
she is a bad influence, and she is insane. Her uncle, Eldorath, lives in a large
plantation house on the island far away as P. Brown spread rumours about him
seeing ghosts and being a witch doctor.
Gaynah tells Clara about Rudy, a new girl arriving at the island. Everyone is
excited. Clara gets to meet her when she is caught sneaking into Ms Gee’s,
Rudy’s grandma’s, yard to get a guava leaf as the friends are playing pick leaf.
She is forced to iron Ms Gee’s clothes as punishment.
Later on, Clara is mad at Gaynah as he is constantly teasing her for not
remembering anything about last summer. In anger, she dumps the memory
box, with a collection of memorial objects of their friendship and dumps it in
the river. Gaynah’s mother yells at Clara’s mom at her own birthday party for
her daughter being crazy.
After some time, Clara and Rudy are exploring the island. They see the fort that
the English built. As a game, they decide to sneak up to Eldorath’s mansion for
fun. Clara, Rudy, Gaynah and Calvin sneak up but are discovered by Eldorath.
Rather than being angry, he gives them some clothes designed like ancient
clothes to play with. He used to sew costumes for theatre shows.
Suddenly one night, Clara is woken up by her parents and drove into the city.
They go to Bishop Mason, who asks her simple questions. Realizing that he
thinks she is insane, she storms out angrily towards the sea but is scared of
water even though she used to surf. Her parents realize that rituals are not
going to work but they must usher her slowly out of her insanity. Her father
takes her out fishing but gives away the fish for free to Osiah, a fisherman, who
in return offers a free breakfast.
As they are going back home, they see people carrying zinc panels and steel
bars and learn they are for protection from a major storm. They quickly gather
the villagers and Clara’s father sends her to get Eldorath.
Clara and Gaynah go over, but Eldorath refuses to come over, but provides
them both shelter and a change of clothes. It is then that Clara asks him about
the rumours. Eldorath reveals they are true, and says that when he was young,
he saw the figure of P. Brown’s father even after his death. In anger, P. Brown
spreads rumours about him.
It is then that Eldorath reveals that Clara too can see these figures of dead
people and reveals that Gaynah is actually dead. He says that she drowned in a
storm last summer and Clara does not remember. Eldorath asks her to make
peace with her ghost hallucination and Gaynah suddenly disappears. The
reason why Clara was forbidden to visit Eldorath was because her parents
thought he would reveal this to her before she was ready for it.
Clara arrives back at the village after the storm and turns out that Ms Gee’s full
wood house has been destroyed. The villagers and Eldorath together help to
rebuild it and the rest of the village.
The story ends as Clara and her father go to a junior surfing competition and
though Clara fails terribly, she is happy.
Originally published: October 20, 2020 Author: Kereen Getten
Genre: Psychological Fiction