Blog Post-The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

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Blog made by Christopher Caschera

Introduction to Book/Summary: 

        The book I am currently reading is The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind and it is by William Kamkwamba (who is writing about his own experiences in the book) and Bryan Mealer. The first quarter of the story, roughly chapters 1 to 5, is mainly told in the kid/young adult voice of the author William. To begin the story in chapter 1, there author talks about his experience as a young boy in the African country of Malawi where famines, droughts, and poverty exist in every day life. William is taught never  to play with magic by his father Trywell who thinks it is a form of trickery, but this does not keep William from understanding the clearer perspective of this as he reaches young adulthood, and the new  buisness-man president Muluzi is elected. After the election comes the opening of Mr. Bundo's shop that sells famous famous Fanta drinks, the Hollywood action thrillers, and further implies the use of money from Western culture. There are also events like when the author mentioned the history of Malawi, and the dictator and tribe that had ruled over them, that the reader truly realize this William and his family's struggle. Through much poverty and bad harvests, William's family could no longer afford the $80 to send him to school, and he later had to help out at home. Later in the book, Chief Wimbe was beaten by criminals of the townspeople and never did reveal his current conditions nor how he was going to help the people now, which caused much distress among the people. William's uncle John also dies unexpectedly, and William's father passes on the business to his oldest son Jeremiah; who eventually ruins the business by neglecting it and making extravagant payments on certain items like alcohol. Later in chapter 6, William and his family are eating one meal a day and William later explains that in their culture that the son is not allowed to eat with the daughter and the father is not allowed to eat with the mother. Williams sister also gets married, but this comes as a bad event because she left unexpectedly and did not go through the marriage process Malawian culture requires. William's father is badly hurt by this, but after things seem to look up for William when he finds a book about Windmills in a library built by the U.S. government for his town. He built a prototype after reading the book, and thought about the idea of powering small items in his home using this kind of technology (since his village had no electricity) to charge batteries and power a radio. Meanwhile outside in the village, people are starving even more as Williams describes this horrible fate many Malawians are living through because of the current famine and drought. Even his family is affected, not to mention that William's mother had another child as well during this time period. 

Reflection:

I connected to this book very much.  As for me personally I connected with the quote found on Pg.3 "Before I discovered the miracles of science, magic ruled the world."I connected to this quote because when I was very little as well I always though of certain things like how babies were born as magic but when I got a schooling age, I thought very little of this so called magic because by then I knew what the real world and all it's properties were like. Just like what happened to William when he got older. One event that connects to the world though is: “in Africa, we did many of the same things children do all over the world, only with slightly different materials (pg 19).” I thought this quote connected very much to the world we live in today because we do live in a very materialistic type society in America, and do not truly realize that kids like William are just like us but pushed away just because they are poor which is wrong. Another quote that connects to another text that exists is the quote on Pg.82 "Few people realize this, but cutting down the trees is one of the things that keeps us Malawians poor." This quote is similar to that of another text called the Lorax where many trees were taken away by one man's obsession with their leaves, which kind of reminds me of this quote because the people of Malawi are poor and can be helped but by cutting down the natural resources they do have they thus continue the process of deforestation, which isn't a good thing as described in the Lorax as well. The author also put in his own writing style when he uses the simile on Pg.75: "It's like the starting pistol in the great race against God- the moment he says" "Go!" This quote expresses the author's writing style because the simile used is comparing the rains that come throughout the winter time to an act of God finally expressing his blessing over Africa, through which the author can relate to and writes about because he feels the droughts back in his home country were an absolute struggle for him and people so when they did come, he used this simile to demonstrate the great release or feeling he felt in those moments in Malawi. 

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Why I chose this Book:

I chose this book because the summary on the back of the book look interesting and I could see that the book seemed like a good read as well. Someone also recommended that I read this book, and had high status of it as well. So far I feel like this book is meeting more than my expectations of a good read. It is more than just a story of a boy's adventure or something like that in Africa, it is a true tale told from the point of view, experiences, and dreams of one man/boy named William who responds to a crisis in his village in the best way possible: by generating hope for the future with his invention. Since I now know the story has so much more meaning and depth than what I firstly thought was intended. It's starting to look reasonably hopeful in my book as well, which is one of my "reader's expectations".

Most Meaningful sentence in the book 

"The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind":

“I went to sleep dreaming of Malawi, and all the things made possible when your dreams are powered by your heart.” I thought this quote was the most meaningful, blissful quote I have ever read in a book. One reason I liked this sentence so much is not because it demonstrates what William did but what any body; anywhere can do if they 're determined. Now that I've read this, I feel compelled to take change in my life, and see the world through a different lens per say. A lens that can see the good and bad in this world, but still be determined despite the odds because just like William's past experiences, change can come with determination and patience. Even to the most humble, least fortunate of people. 

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 Week 3: Review of "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind":

"The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" is about a boy named William who lives in the small country of Malawi with his big family, and at his small village in the countryside of the capital, he does something extraordinary for his fellow villagers. Before he decided on doing this special thing, he thought a lengthily amount of time about what the thought of wind power and windmills. Through which he read in a book called "Windmills" as a kid in a library built and donated by the United States government. William then builds his idea of a windmill and uses it to first power a radio, then to charge phones, and finally power his whole village. There also smaller, but still important events in the book. One being that Williams village had been undergoing a drought because of the dry season going on, and much famine was also present throughout the region. Throughout the book, William tells about the long food lines he had to wait in order to feed his family, being in and out of school, his older sister leaving the house without telling anybody and not following their culture for weddings, plus much more. In addition to the review about this book, the writing style present is one of the best any reader would enjoy! I personally enjoyed the descriptions and use of authentic thoughts used by the author as well! For example, when the author describes his life in Malawi through first person (which is himself as a boy) it makes the reader feel greatly appreciative for what they have in America, and that they do not have to go through the same struggles William and the rest of the country have to go through. One interesting part to the book would be the fact that the feeling you get from this book, and the relationship William describes having with his family and other people, truly make you feel like your there inside the story itself. Not to mention the electric device William created also was interesting in design. William made this through spare parts of different items he found laying around his house, and spent many hours working on a prototype and the finally the real thing. This is very interesting too because William Kamkwamba had these experiences, and this book proves miracles can happen no matter where you are on Earth or where you come from. His invention showed his family, his village, his country, and perhaps the whole world that this one boy, from a small country in Africa can show hope for less developed countries, and as time goes on, we might find LDCs becoming MDCs and with the power of electricity and one boys invention, this is starting a trend in history now and for the future! With this, I really dove right into the book and furthermore can say I like this book very much because it deals with very real things. It is also told with validation, and the author could not do it any better than describing his life struggles, experiences, strategies, and much more!

My recommendation to 9th graders:

Other ninth graders should read this book for many reasons. One of these reasons would be the fact that the feelings that a ninth grader has about the world currently, can be related to and understood in the text. This is because many ninth graders like myself don't quite understood how the world works quite yet and this book demonstrates how third world countries look and why are world the way it is, with the poor people on the bottom of many priority lists and the rich on top. I also recommend this book to ninth graders because it is an easy read with high school; young adult like literature that can be easily understandable for any ninth grader and above. One of the most memorable parts of this book is what you get after completing and reading the final page of the book where William is all grown up and recognized for his work. If one wants to read a book where determination can lead to something like this and where adventure and an interesting story line take place as well, "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" is obviously the best book for the job! Plus, ninth graders will feel suspense at certain moments in the book, and fully be capable of understanding the world, and perhaps themselves and their beliefs (like I did) much better.