Wow! 1292 children read 10,009 books in two weeks on Pearson Foundation's We Give Books website, resulting in over 10,000 children's books to William Kamkwamba's Wimbe village library and additional schools/libraries in the area via William's NGO Moving Windmills. Thanks to Dave Schenone at We Read Books and Lauri Hornik at Dial Books for children. Thank you to our top 3 readers: pvpvrawlings, Harbins, and shaktimama.
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: A Story of Passion and Possibility
by Maria Popova
What bamboo poles and bicycle chains have to do with sparking the spirit of entrepreneurship.
When he was only 14 years old, William Kamkwamba dreamt up a windmill that would produce electricity for his village in Malawi. The trouble? As Malawi was experiencing the worst famine in 50 years, William had to drop out of school because his family could no longer afford the $80 annual tuition. This meant he not only had no money to purchase the parts, but also no formal education to teach him how to put them together. Determined, he headed to the local library and voraciously devoured its limited selection of textbooks, then gathered some scrap parts — a bicycle dynamo, bamboo poles, a tractor fan, rubber belts, a bike chain ring — and brought his vision to life, building a functioning windmill. He spent the next five years perfecting the design and went on to found the Moving Windmills Project in 2008 to foster rural economic development and education projects in Malawi.
In 2009, Kamkwamba shared his moving story of perseverance, curiosity, and ingenuity in the memoir The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope. Now, this modern-day entrepreneurial fairy tale is being adapted for young hearts and minds in the beautifully illustrated children’s book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Young Readers Edition. Kamkwamba’s story shines with all the more optimism and tenacity in the hands of 27-year-old artist Elizabeth Zunon, whose rich, lyrical, almost three-dimensional oil-and-cut-paper illustrations, reminiscent of Sophie Blackall’s, vibrate with exceptional whimsy and buoyancy.
Coupled with the launch is a wonderful literacy effort — for every book parents, teacher, and children read online on We Give Books, the Wimbe community lending library, where Kamkwamba’s journey began, gets a new book, up to 10,000. Despite serving some 1,500 pupils, the library currently has no picture books.
Beautiful, moving, and immensely inspirational, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Young Readers Edition tells the kind of story that helps budding entrepreneurs relate to the world through a lens of infinite possibility — the kind of message that might, just might, empower them to harness if not the wind the future itself.
Thanks, Tom
Last chance for you and your kids to take part in our literacy drive around my new children's book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, written with my friend Bryan Mealer and illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon.
For every book you and your kids read online at the We Give Books website (free), a real physical book is given to my village library, up to 10,000. After 10 days and hundreds of kids' effort, we're up to 9,199 book. At this rate that means we'll finish by the weekend. Thank you to Pearson Books' Foundation and the Moving Windmills Project, WK's NGO. Click below and read (it's free)...
Thank you to all the American children who have made it possible to change the lives of the primary students at the school I attended in my hometown of Wimbe, Malawi. These will be the first picture books they've every had.
It's great. Made me homesick a little.
If you hadn't had a chance to try the Pearson Foundation's free book website We Give Books with the young people in your life, try it soon. Children all around America have read 7500 free books online, and each one read means Pearson Foundation gives 1 new book to Moving Windmills, my NGO for the library where my adventure began (up to 10,000). We will also share books with other libraries and schools in my district. I'm excited that soon children in my village will have picture books. Right now there are none. Watch the bookshelf on the right; it fills in as kids read...
PS, watch the video: it's a great update on what I've been doing.
From my friend Tom: "If you have received and read the book, please consider writing a brief review of it on any of the online book sites. Amazon is an obvious choice, but Barnes and Noble or Powell's work, too. To write a review click here."
The ALA is the largest annual conference of the Library World and TBWHTW was represented in the Dial Booth. My publisher sent in this photo:
(Kirkus Reviews is one of the four most prestigious book review journals)
THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND (reviewed on December 1, 2011)
The true story of a Malawian teenager who leveraged need and library research into a windmill constructed from found materials.
Forced by drought and famine to drop out of school, William dreams of “building things and taking them apart.” Inspired by science books in an American-built library near his village, his dreams turn to creating “electric wind.” Despite the doubts of others he begins—assembling discarded bicycle parts and other junk into a rickety tower, triumphantly powering an electric light and going on to dream of windmill-driven wells to water the land. Kamkwamba tells this version (another, for adult readers, was published with the same title in 2009) of his tale of inspiration meeting perspiration in terse, stately third person: “He closed his eyes and saw a windmill outside his home, pulling electricity from the breeze and bringing light to the dark valley.” Zunon illustrates it handsomely, with contrasting cut-paper-collage details arranged on brown figures, and broad, sere landscapes painted in visibly textured oils.
A plainspoken but inspiring tale of homespun ingenuity. (afterword) (Picture book/biography. 7-9)
Exclusive TED Interview with Elizabeth Zunon, illustrator of William Kamkwamba's The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind Young Reader's Edition on her inspirations for her art in the book.
Yesterday, TED Fellow William Kamkwamba debuted an illustrated children’s version of his memoir The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, co-written with Bryan Mealer and illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon. Since its publication in 2009,The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind has been printed in 17 editions. For this Young Readers edition, for ages 6 and up, Kamkwamba’s story is accompanied by Zunon’s uniquely subtle mix of oil and collage.
In conjunction with the launch of the book’s children’s edition, Kamkwamba’s NGO, Moving Windmills Project, is collaborating with the Pearson Foundation on an initiative to send up to 10,000 children’s books to Wimbe lending library, near Kamkwamba’s village in Malawi — the place where his story began. Each time the book is read online, the library receives one new book. So far there have been over 7,000 readings completed online. Learn more. Kamkwamba is now a sophomore at Dartmouth majoring in Environmental Sciences.
We caught up with illustrator and former Côte d’Ivoire denizen Elizabeth Zunon to ask her about this beautiful new edition.
What about this story touched you?
I was touched by William’s problem-solving mentality during a crisis. He endured the drought and had to drop out of school, but still figured out a way to piece together a solution with determination and only the materials that he had.
How did you decide the style of the illustrations?
I love combining oil painted portraits and collage elements, so I thought that exploring this style would fit perfectly for this book. I am always collecting pieces of colored and textured paper and fabric, and taking photographs. I thought that literally “building” the illustrations with my own found items would reflect Williams searching and building process as well.
How do you think your style and William’s story work together to create a new narrative?
I think that they both demonstrate the process of collecting, altering and piecing together disparate parts. Trusting in oneself and in one’s idea, even before it has been completed or is actually successful, is the key to satisfaction. Having the artwork demonstrate the same notions that the story does only enforces the narrative.
What do you hope young readers will learn from this story?
I hope that they’ll learn that you can build your dreams with the pieces that are already around you — that every positive and negative experience you live through is a puzzle piece for the legacy you will leave to others. Hope, courage and endless possibilities live everywhere!