The boy who harnessed the wind and made the rest of us feel like we're wasting our lives

I'm struggling with whether to put a fart joke here

Yeah well, I didn't invent a damn thing before I was 20, other than lies about my homework. 

I have nothing but praise. This guy has the goods. 

The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind is my-life-so-far book by a William Kamkwamba, who spent much of his adolescent years determined to bring free electricity and irrigation to his family's home in poverty- and drought-stricken Malawi. If you can point out Malawi on a map without labels, congratulations. It's a story of overcoming stiff odds and one person's drive to succeed and should rightfully be celebrated. At the same time, it strikes me as a cautionary tale for people in developed countries who take for granted the comforts of their lives, and to never stop thinking.

William pursued something that would improve his life, but also would teach him to put faith in science and human ingenuity over the "magic" purported to hold sway over the people in Malawi, and that he once believed to be a legitimate source of power. Further, he was ridiculed by others in his village for his pursuits, labeled a wacko pothead, which for a time brought shame to his family. There are heavy lessons in here for anyone willing to put in the time, e.g. my world studies class next term. SUCKERS! It's important, too, to read the final pages on being recognized for his achievements by the international scientific community, which goes to show that hard work and ingenuity will not go unrewarded. The guy got a free ride through college and on The Daily Show for crying out loud. 

I categorize this book as YA non-fiction for the following reasons:

1) It was a written by a young adult

2) Deals with concepts around self-improvement and self-discovery to which YA readers can relate

3) It reads smoothly, and the 960 Lexile means that is well within the range of high school readers. 

4) YOU CAN'T STOP ME.

5) We need more realistically uplifting non-fiction for our kiddos, and this one does the job, with the added benefit of supplementing the book with social studies content and all of the media around William and other inventors like him. I can see using this book in the classroom for years to come. 

Boring Stuff

The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind

William Kamkwamba (with Bryan Mealer)

2010 Reprint William Morrow

Next time, I yell about

a book about three teenage boys mired in a never-ending war, with one chance to get out alive. Let's just say  THE NUMBERS DO THE TALKING!