Library Love Fest

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Librarians, we want to hear from you!  As you can see here, here, and here, we're wild about this book and we hope you will be, too.  Send an email to librarylovefest at harpercollins.com.  We'll send a copy of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind to you with our compliments.  The only thing ask for in return is a review of the book which we would then post on our blog. We know how busy everyone is these days so don't get hung up on the length of the review.  We just want to get the word out to readers about a book that has everyone buzzing in house.  Now we want the buzz to be outside the house! Thanks so much.

Now send us an email! (Please note, this particular offer is for librarians only.) Thanks!

Virginia Stanley
Director
Library Marketing
HarperCollinsPublishers
(212) 207-7592
virginia.stanley at harpercollins.com
www.librarylovefest.com

Readers Advisory Book/Review Swap

We send you a book and you send us your review.  Sometimes this offer will be open to the general readership and other times it will be open to librarians only.  Either way, we’ll keep your name on our list for future reviews! We’d like to kick this off with a book we’re extremely excited about. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba is a terrific book about a young boy in South Africa who discovers a book in the library and learns how to build a windmill and generates electricity.
We hope you enjoy this book as much as we do.  Check out Marketing Director Tavia Kowalchuk's guest blog on the book, as well as our original post.  Let us know if you’d like to review it on our blog by emailing your name, mailing address and library affiliation to librarylovefest@harpercollins.com. Again, this one’s for librarians only. Thanks!

-Virginia

The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind

We are so thrilled to have Tavia Kowalchuk, Marketing Director for William Morrow, Eos and Cookbooks (imprints of HarperCollins Publishers) as a guest blogger today.  Tavia is excited about the publication of the forthcoming title, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.

Enjoy!

-Bobby 
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The buzz is building for the soon-to-be-released THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND –the inspirational true story about an enterprising teenager in Malawi who built a windmill from scraps found around his village and brought electricity—and a future—to himself and his family.

William Kamkwamba, grew up poor in Malawi, Africa, a country suffering from poverty, famine, AIDS and lack of basic services like plumbing and electricity. When William was 14 and unable to attend school because his family couldn’t afford the $80 tuition, he began thinking a lot about electricity. After being given a book about windmills by his local librarian, he decided to build his own using scrap metal, tractor parts, and blue-gum trees, which grew near his village. William’s home-made contraption succeeded in supplying electricity to his family’s compound. You can click here to read an excerpt from his memoir before the book is on sale (September 29th), but in the meantime, here is an exclusive interview with the librarian in Malawi who gave William the book that changed his life.

Meet librarian Edith Sikelo.  Mrs. Sikelo was sitting behind her desk at the library when William first walked in.



























She quickly noticed his interest in science books and encouraged him to keep reading. His library card soon grew to several pages, which Sikelo now keeps to show visitors, and to brandish to younger students as an example of success.
 
Mrs. Sikelo was recently interviewed by Tom Rielly, Community Director of the TED Conference, a major party in promoting William’s story throughout the world.

The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind

The buzz is building for the soon-to-be-released THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND – the inspirational true story about an enterprising teenager in Malawi who built a windmill from scraps found around his village and brought electricity--and a future—to himself and his family.

William Kamkwamba grew up poor in Malawi, Africa, a country suffering from AIDS and poverty. Like most in his village, his family struggled to survive as farmers and did not have access to electricity. The situation became all the more desperate in 2002, as Malawi experienced the worst famine in fifty years. William was 14 and his family could no longer afford his school’s $80-a-year tuition.

During this time William began thinking a lot about electricity, which only two percent of Malawians can afford. After discovering a book in a nearby library about windmills, he decided to build his own using scrap metal, tractor parts, and blue-gum trees, which grew near his village. William’s home-made contraption succeeded in supplying electricity to his family’s compound--enough for four lightbulbs and two radios! News of his invention spread, attracting many people across the world who offered to help him. Soon he was re-enrolled in school and traveling to the United States to visit wind farms, much like the ones he hopes to build across Africa. THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND tells the story of one boy’s struggle to advance himself from nothing, and his journey to inspire other Africans--and the whole world.

The following links are also helpful in learning more about William Kamkwamba and his forthcoming book, THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND.

WILLIAM'S BLOG: http://williamkamkwamba.typepad.com/
WILLIAM'S AUTHOR ASSISTANT PAGE: http://harpercollins.com/authors/35128/William_Kamkwamba/index.aspx
BRYAN MEALER'S AUTHOR ASSISTANT PAGE: http://www.harpercollins.com/author/index.aspx?authorID=35129
BROWSE INSIDE: http://browseinside.harpercollins.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780061730320
MOVING WINDMILLS, William's Foundation: http://movingwindmills.org/
VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arD374MFk4w
 

-Virginia