The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope (by
William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer)
Guided reading questions:
Prologue:
What does William describe in this opening story of the book?
Chapter 1:
1. Summarize the first story presented. Talk about who approached William and the items he was
given.
2. Where did the items given to William really come from? What was William afraid would happen to
him?
3. How did his father “save” him? What was his father’s reaction to William’s concerns?
4. According to his father, why did magic exist?
5. Who was Chief Mwase and how did he become the hero in the story of the Chewa people?
6. What happened to Grandpa’s grandmother?
7. What happened to the man Grandpa found in the forest who had been bitten by the cobra? What
did Grandpa see happen to the dead man?
8. What are the 2 ways William says that people can be protected from evil?
9. What do William’s parents do and believe about the traditional magic?
10. What kinds of materials do William and his friends use to make toy trucks?
Chapter 2:
1.
2.
3.
4.
How did William’s father and mother meet? How was this similar to Agnes’ parents’ story?
How did Trywell end up in jail? What happened that turned his life around at this point?
How did Trywell end up going back to farming?
Why did Shabani offer mangolomera to William? What warning did William get from his father?
Chapter 3:
1. What sudden loss did William’s family experience? What was expected in William’s culture to show
grief?
2. What announcement did Mr. Ngwata make regarding Uncle John’s family and wealth? What did
Agnes’ family ask?
3. What was important in William’s culture when digging a grave?
4. How did Jeremiah, John’s eldest son, react when he received the right to run his father’s business?
How did he handle his responsibility?
5. What happened to farming as an occupation when President Banda lost the election? How did
President Banda leave office that was “unlike most African losers”?
6. What was the district of Malawi, where William lived, called? Why?
7. What was different about President Banda’s brand of politics and understanding of the farmers from
the new president’s? How did this affect William’s family farm?
8. What did the boys do when Charity got ulimbo in his eyes?
9. What was the payment for Agnes’ milk?
10. How did William make his hunting knives?
11. How did he build his bird trap?
Chapter 4:
1. What was the main form of connection to the outside world in Malawi and other parts of Africa
where there isn’t any electricity?
2. Why did William and Geoffrey take radios apart? What happened as a result of their
experimenting?
3. William had a very curious mind. What were some of the things he wanted to understand? What
was he surprised about when he asked people how they worked?
4. What was the one advantage that William had when he set the dried maize stalks on fire? What did
he do with what he caught?
5. What is the “hungry season” and why is it called that?
Chapter 5:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Why was the bicycle dynamo important in this chapter and to the story?
Why were kerosene lamps not the best way to get lights at night?
What were the problems that prevented having electricity in a village?
When the president came through William’s district, Gilbert’s father, Chief Wimbe, was asked to
speak for the people. He gave a speech to ask for help for the people. What happened to him
afterward?
Chapter 6:
1. How do the people in William’s culture separate when they go to meals?
2. What did William say about his culture when it came to asking questions about his mother being
pregnant? How did parents explain where children came from?
3. What did William’s parents decide to do to extend the possibility for a food supply?
4. What happened with William’s older sister Annie? What is the usual custom in William’s culture for
handling courtship?
5. The ADMARC in Chamama had maize available for sale. What happened when William went there
to get grain? What were some of the things that bothered him during that experience?
6. What were some of the unpleasant differences about Christmas that year?
Chapter 7:
1. What happened when William saw his marks from the Standard Eight exams? Was this good or bad
for William?
2. When gaga started to run low, what did the traders start to mix it with? What effect did it have on
the people who ate it?
3. With food running out in Malawi, what happened to the people? Did the government address the
problem?
4. What big event (that William was looking forward to) finally arrived? What are a few of the things
he mentions about it?
5. What happened to William’s dream of going to Secondary school?
6. What were 2 ways people’s bodies changed with the starvation?
7. Why did people think that William’s house was a good place to stop for food? What was one of the
stories William remembers about starving people coming into his family’s supper?
8. What was the president’s response to the Malawian radio reporter’s question about the people
dying of hunger? What conclusion did William draw that afternoon?
Chapter 8:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
What did William do to try to get food? What did he use as bait? How did it work?
What did Charity and Mizeck come to tell William he had to do? Why?
How did William carry out his plan? How did he feel about it?
What epidemic happened and what did the trading center hand out free to try to stop it?
What were some of the ways that the lack of food was affecting William, his father, his mother and
his sister, Mayless?
What did the president of Malawi finally admit, after nearly 5 months? What did William say about
him?
What exciting event happened that caused William’s father to have the “blood of life” rush to his
face so that he knew his family would live? What happened to Geoffrey’s legs?
How did the return of food to William’s village affect the people positively? What negative effect
resulted?
What happened to some of the people who had stolen food from other people’s fields? What did
William’s father say they should do if they caught thieves?
Chapter 9:
1. What happened to classes at the secondary school during the famine? What happened when food
returned?
2. What did William decide to do to keep his brain from getting soft? Where did he go and who helped
him?
3. On pages 164 and 165, William explains some very important concepts. What do all of them relate
to? How did William feel about these concepts and why?
4. What book did William find that he said “changed my life”?
5. After reading the book, what did William decide he needed to do? What would be some of the
advantages of doing it? Did he think that he could succeed?
6. Gilbert always went to the library with William but Geoffrey did not. Why not? What reaction did
Geoffrey have when William told him what he intended to build?
7. Where did William hunt for his parts? What were some of the parts he used? How easy was it for
him to get the parts?
8. What hope did William have about school?
Chapter 10:
1. What happened that made William feel like life had returned to normal after the famine? What
were his concerns about?
2. What did William find out about some of the students who were missing?
3. What was the one thing that William didn’t have when he went to school this time? What did his
father do to help him?
4. Why did his father say he failed his only son?
5. What did William say about harvest time? What does everyone remember?
6. What was “unbelievable” about this particular harvest?
7. What was the one thing that William needed that his father had for the project? Why did his father
not want to give it up?
8. When William went to the scrapyard, the kids from the schoolyard across the street noticed him.
What were some of the things that happened as a result? How did his father react to his mother’s
concerns?
9. William was willing to work in the hot sun all day for two hundred kwacha. What did William need
the money for? How did the man who William hired react to William’s request?
10. How did William get “the last piece to the great puzzle” in his life? Who paid for it? What else had
that person paid for?
Chapter 11:
1. What area in William’s house did he use to assemble his machine? Why?
2. Was the assembly easy or difficult? What were some of the parts that were more involved in the
assembly?
3. What happened the first time that William and Geoffrey tried the machine? What problem did
William have to solve? How did he solve it?
4. Who helped William build his machine? What did he notice as he stood on top of the tower looking
out at the scenery?
5. What happened that finally made all of William’s efforts worthwhile? How did the crowd, who had
gathered, react?
6. What did William do with the electricity from his machine for his room? What were his future plans
for the electricity? How did he prepare for them?
Chapter 12:
1. William gets an idea to help his cousin Ruth with her cell phone. What does he do? When people
hear about it, what happens?
2. How did having lights at night affect William’s family?
3. What was a problem for William in bringing electricity into his house? After one incident, he is
grateful he is too poor to buy proper wiring. Why?
4. What is the one big unit that William constructs to make having electricity in his house safe?
5. What part of William’s machine was a problem that Geoffrey suggested he replace? How did this
change help make his machine better?
6. How did Mister Godsten behave these days when William approached him for help?
Chapter 13:
1. What still remained a problem now, even long after the famine was over? What did this problem
prevent William and his family from doing?
2. What did William see happening to boys who had dropped out of school? Why did this concern
William? How did William “fight that kind of darkness”?
3. What was William’s idea for his next big project? Why did he come up with the idea?
4. What was the project that William was most anxious to get working on? Was it successful?
5. What happened to William’s mother when she came back from visiting her parents? Whose name
did she keep screaming when she woke up? Why?
6. What happened to Chief Wimbe? What role did the Gule Wamkulu play in the ceremony for the
Chief?
7. What change did the new president make so that farmers could afford fertilizer? What happened
when William and his father went to get the fertilizer?
8. How did growing season start out? What changed?
9. How did magic interfere with the problems people were having? What were some of the stories
that rose up?
10. How did the people’s superstitions and belief in witchcraft affect William and his machine? What
did the people accuse the machine of doing?
11. What problem that eventually resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of teachers was a problem
in Malawi? How did people use magic to explain this problem?
12. William joins a group to help his community with the growing health problem. What does he write
and where is it presented? How did it affect William’s community?
13. What other opportunity opened up to William after his presentation?
Chapter 14:
1. Who visited William in November, 2006 and what was he interested in? What impressed William
about him?
2. Who came to William’s house after reports of his machine got out?
3. What did all of the publicity do for William’s machine?
4. How did all of this help William fulfill his dream of going back to school? Was it easy getting him
into school? What type of school was decided upon?
5. What were some of the things that William noticed about his new school that were different from
his school back home?
6. Why did the boys tease William at his new school? What did they say? How did William end the
teasing?
7. In order to prepare William for his trip, where did Dr. Mchazime take him? What sorts of things did
William see and do?
8. Who did William sit next to on the plane? Where were they going? Why was the man next to
William going?
Chapter 15:
1. What was William asked to do by Tom Rielly? What preparation did William have with him?
2. What did Tom introduce William to with his laptop? What were some of the things that William
saw? What did Tom help him set up?
3. What was “the most amazing thing about TED”?
4. What happened when William was interviewed on stage at the conference? What result did it have
on the people who listened?
5. What were William’s two goals that “seemed impossible by Malawian standards”? What did Tom
Rielly conclude about these goals? What did Tom say they should try to do?
6. What happened when Tom and William approached American investors and business leaders?
7. When William and Tom returned to William’s hometown, what did Tom say to William about the
windmill?
8. What was the solution that Gerry Douglas made for the problems at Baobab Health Center? What
about its efficiency compared to hospitals in America?
9. Where did William live while he attended ABCCA in Lilongwe? How did Mr. Blessings help to
encourage William while he lived there?
10. What were some of the ways that money from the donors helped William, his family and Gilbert?
11. What nickname did William’s family give him when he came home from ABCCA? Why did they give
him the nickname?
12. William took a trip to the United States in December, 2007. What were some of the things he
noticed in New York City about the city and about the people?
13. What did William notice about Jay Walker’s library? Whose invention did he seem to be the most
impressed with?
14. While William was still in America, where did he retreat back to in his mind? What daydream was
like “a song my mother would sing”?
15. What place did William visit that was like his home in Malawi? What did he see there?
16. What question did William ask himself? What were some of his possible answers?
Epilogue:
1. William was asked what the Malawian government thought about his project. What did William tell
them? How did he know that?
2. Where did William go for further education? What conclusion did he draw about Africans?
3. Who were some of the people he met who inspired him in Johannesburg and what were their
stories?