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Welcome to the final Online Book Club discussion of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.

Did you enjoy the ending? I thought the last chapters were the most interesting chapters of the book. I was glad to see how making the windmill changed William’s life so much. If you’re curious about William’s windmill projects now, check out the site, Moving Windmills, and read about what the foundation is doing in Malawi now. 

One of the most exciting parts in this last section was when William was able to share his story at the TED conference. What a cool experience! I was so glad that everyone welcomed him to the event and showed him how remarkable he is. If you’d like to watch William’s speech at the event, check out the video below! 

How excited were you when William’s windmill worked and provided light for his room? Again, I was so surprised by William’s fearlessness and ingenuity when he decided to take on wiring his house for electricity. He made his own circuit breakers, for goodness sakes! He was so lucky that his house never burned down. Were you curious about how he was able to make his own light switches? Check out the photo below, taken from William’s blog, if you’d like to see what his homemade light switches looked like. I can’t imagine how revolutionary it was to have light in the evenings at home. And, how handy it was to have a local place to charge phones! I enjoyed reading about how his family was able to listen to the radio at night, too. That was so cool. 

I was nervous when people thought that William’s windmill was bringing bad luck to the village. I was really worried that someone would damage his windmill in retaliation, but, thankfully, that didn’t happen. Weren’t you sad that William’s mom had malaria? I was glad that she recovered. 

I couldn’t believe how quickly William got notoriety for his windmill. It seemed like it all happened so quickly. I was so glad that the attention allowed him to go back to school, and it was awesome that he was able to help his family so much through the donations he received. What did you think when you read how William felt when he saw the internet for the first time? Or, when he flew in a plane for the first time? I was so glad he was able to have those experiences. Especially since he earned them through is hard work and ingenuity. When William was traveling, he got to go to a really cool library. Check out pictures of the library here–it seems like it’s quite the place!

At the end of the book, William has his whole life ahead of him. He wants to create a water pump for the village, and he mentions how the village got solar panels. Check out William’s website to read more about what he’s up to now and to see how his windmill project has expanded. 

I hope you enjoyed reading this book along with us! If you liked this book and would like to read and watch similar titles, check out this list I created. Make sure to let me know if you check out anything on the list!

 I hope you’ll join us again next month as we read Killing Floor by Lee Child. I can’t wait to hear from you in the comments section!

Welcome to Week 3 of the Online Book Club discussion of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.

How was the reading experience for you this week? I felt like I had an easier time reading this section compared to the first section. I liked that these chapters focused more on William. 

In Chapter 6, we learn that William’s mother is pregnant, and this puts a strain on their already low resources. Weren’t you sad when you read that many children are given sad names during times of distress? I can’t imagine that it would be very fun to carry around a name like that. 

I was surprised that William’s mother was able to start a business during this time. Although William’s family didn’t have much, it seemed like they were able to have some food, even in the darkest times. It was so hard to read about all of the starving babies and people who wandered through Willliam’s village. I just can’t imagine seeing all of that hardship on a daily basis. I can’t even imagine how hard it was to survive from day to day. It was sad to see how desperate people got. When people are desperate, they almost act like wild animals. They do things they would never imagine doing during times. 

What did you think of the goat skin eating scene? That sounded absolutely disgusting! I was surprised by how chewy it was. I bet if they had had the resources to fry the skin, it would have been more edible, but it seemed like they only had the resources for boiling. What a horrible way for them to spend Christmas. 

In chapter 7, William learns that he got bad test scores, so he’s going to have to go to a bad school. I thought it was really unfair that William and his classmates were expected to pay for uniforms and shoes and school books when no one had anything. What did you think of the descriptions of his school building? I felt sick to my stomach when I read that the latrines were so crumbly that a classmate actually fell through the floorboards and was not discovered for several hours. I imagine that that girl got really sick. I hope she ended up being ok. Weren’t you so sad when William realized that he couldn’t stay at school because there was no way to pay his school fees? 

The part with Khamba the dog and his last days was so upsetting. Didn’t that make you feel so unsettled? I just hate when animals die or are injured in books. 

I was incredibly glad that William and his family survived the famine. I really can’t believe they were able to make it through those dark days. I hoped that William would be able to go right back to school, but that wasn’t the case. I enjoyed reading about how he was able to still go to the library. I can’t believe that he just picked up books on energy on a whim, and those books ended up changing his life. I guess that shows how important libraries are! Once William got the idea to make the windmill, things really started moving. He had success right away! I just couldn’t believe how he was able to scrounge to find parts and how he was able to understand the science of everything needed to keep the windmill going. He is just so smart! I can’t believe how fearless he was to take on such big projects. At the end of the section, he’s able to have a dynamo, so hopefully, his dream of a a full-scale windmill will be realized. 

Want to see William’s village and hear about his windmill-making process? Check out the video below!

Thanks for following along this week. I hope you’re excited to finish the book for next week! Make sure to leave me a comment, so I can know how you are enjoying the book!

Welcome to Week 2 of the Online Book Club discussion of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.

Are you enjoying the book so far? Did you find it hard to get into the story, or were you hooked right from the beginning? I found it a little hard to get into the story in the first few chapters. William’s experiences and surroundings are just so different than anything I have ever experienced, so I found it a little hard to visualize everything that was going on. But, once I got going with the story, I really enjoyed it!

What did you think about the fact that the book started with a description of the windmill actually working? Did that make you more motivated to keep reading? It made me feel excited because I knew he was going to succeed, and I was interested to see how he actually did it. 

In this beginning section, we don’t learn much about the windmills and William’s experiments. Intsead, there is a lot of explanation of his village and the government of Malawi and the growing seasons. It was really sad to learn about the reasons why William’s village experienced a famine. Did you catch that he said that deforestation caused rains to turn to floods, and that washes away soil and minerals? And, all of the rains wash away the fertilizers. It’s interesting to think how rain can be so damaging because rain is also so necessary for the growing process. What did you think about William’s description of the growing season in Malawi? What a difference to be planting in December through March! I was surprised that the dry season was August through November. They are completely opposite of us here in Ohio. When talking about the growing season, William mentions that that nsima is eaten at every meal. If you’re curious to see how nsima is made, check out the video below. 

In the last chapter in this section, the famine has hit William’s village. Wasn’t it heartbreaking that the people were depending on extra food from the government, but all of that food was sold to Kenya for a profit? What do you think the people are going to do? How can they make it until the next growing season? Immediately, people start selling and eating the gaga, the husks of the maize. William says that normally, he uses the gaga as a bait for his bird traps or as food for the chickens. But, the people are already desperate. William’s family seems better off than some, but by the end of this chapter, WIlilam realizes that they are going to run out of food in a month, but they have over 200 days until the next harvest. His family has to sell their goats, too. Do you think his family is going to be ok? Do you think some food will come to them from some other source?

In this last chapter, William learns a bit about wind energy through the bike wheel and the light that’s powered by a dynamo battery. William is very interested to know why the rotation of the bike wheels causes the dynamo to power the light. I was so impressed by how fearless William was when he was determined to figure out how something worked. He wasn’t afraid to move wires around or take things apart. He mentions that the experiment with the bike made him think about electricity–did you notice that he said that most people used kerosene lamps to see at night? But, with the price of fuel being so high, they didn’t use the lamps all the time and instead, went to bed as soon as it got dark. I think that would be really hard! I’m a night owl, so I would struggle to go to bed early. 

What do you think is going to happen to William and his family in the next section? Are you excited to read about his first experiments with wind power? 

I hope you enjoyed this first section and are excited to read the next five chapters for next week. Make sure to leave me a comment to let me know what you thought of this section! 

Welcome to Week 1 of the Online Book Club discussion of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.

The Online Book Club, if you’ve never joined us before, is a book discussion group that takes place entirely online. Each week, I write a new blog post that talks about different aspects of the book, and you can interact directly with me and other readers by leaving your comments. Check back each week and see what new topics we’re talking about.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is the true story of William Kamkwamba, a boy from Malawi who used an old book from the library to construct windmills for his village. These windmills brought electricity and irrigation to his village. It’s a very inspirational story, so make sure to check it out. 

If you want to follow along with us but you aren’t interested in reading the book, you can always watch the movie version on Netflix. Check out the trailer above if you want to get a feel for the movie. Feel free to still leave comments on the blog posts, even if you’re only watching the movie and not reading the book.

We’ll read the first 5 chapters for next week, so make sure to read those before checking the next blog post! I can’t wait to hear your thoughts in the comments!

Welcome to the final discussion of Where the Crawdads Sing.

What did you think about the ending? Was it what you hoped? Were you surprised at all by all of the things that went down? 

At the beginning of this part, we learn that Chase attacked Kya, and she apparently screamed that she wanted to kill him. I think that’s a pretty justified reaction to the way he treated her. Now, Kya is not able to feel safe at home, and really, there’s no way to guarantee that she will be safe. No one would believe her if she said that Chase hurt her. And, she’s so isolated from everyone else. 

Were you surprised that the red cap that helped put Kya behind bars was originally Tate’s? Do you think that cap shows that Kya was at the scene of the crime? 

During the trial, a lot of the testimony and evidence against Kya seemed ridiculous. The part where the prosecutor accused her of dressing up in elaborate disguises to ride the bus to and from Greenville was something else. Didn’t that sound like a wild thing for someone to do? And, the evidence of the tide washing away footsteps and the man who thought he recognized her outline–those things really weren’t very conclusive. What did you think about those details in the trial? Did you believe that she would dress up in a disguise or do the things they accused her of?

Kya’s lawyer was really good at making those accusations look faulty, and he did a good job of making the townspeople feel really guilty for completely abandoning Kya. She really lucked out with the lawyer she was assigned. I was so relieved when she was cleared of the charges. I thought it was really sad after the whole trial that Kya said, “I never asked people for anything. Maybe now they’ll leave me alone” (p. 350). All she wanted was to be left to her own devices, and people really were so mean to her her entire life. She never got a fair chance at love and acceptance. 

When Tate gets hauled into that police boat, I thought for sure that he was going to be arrested for the murder or something–since his hat was the red hat and there were red fibers. I wasn’t expecting for his father to be dead. I was glad that his father’s passing caused Kya to reach out, and I’m glad they were able to be reconnected with each other. 

I was really satisfied with the ending–right up until the very last page. I was glad that Tate and Kya were married and had a good life together. I was glad that Kya acknowledged that Jumpin’ was her dad, and it was awesome that she was able to keep writing and keep being successful. But, the very end was not my favorite. I felt a little duped when I realized that Kya had killed Chase and all of the outlandish accusations at her trial were true. I know she would have never felt safe again if he had lived, but it was still hard to read that she was the one who did it. What did you think about the fact that Tate destroyed the evidence at the end? Do you think he was disappointed in Kya? Do you think that last revelation colored his whole relationship with her? 

Were you happy with the way the book ended? Did you feel a little duped at the end? What did you like the most in this last section? 

I hope you enjoyed reading this book this month! If you’d like to read similar titles, check out this list I created. Make sure to let me know if you check out anything on the list!

Before you go, check out this interview where Delia Owens gives a little more insight into her characters. 

I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on the end of the story in the comments! And, I hope you’ll join us again next month as we read The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.

Welcome to Week 3 of the Online Book Club discussion of Where the Crawdads Sing.

I am so mad at Tate! I cannot believe he didn’t come back for Kya once he went off to school. He was such a coward. I understand that Kya is odd and would have a time of adjustment before she could live comfortably in the “regular” world. But, he was a coward to not talk to her and instead just leave after he saw the way she reacted to the fisherman that came near to her house. She already experienced so much loss–how was she ever supposed to learn to trust people once Tate abandoned her, too?

Were you suprised that she and Chase had a relationship? I don’t think she would have gone for Chase if she had not been burned by Tate. Throughout the section, we start to see some things about their relationship that relate to Chase’s murder. They did visit the fire tower together, and Kya did give Chase a shell necklace. Finally, he ends up betraying her by getting engaged to another girl while telling Kya that he wants to be with her. Do you think those things are enough to show that Kya wanted Chase dead? 

Evidence against Kya starts to build. The fisherman claims he saw her the night of the murder, and they find the red cap in her house. But, do those things really prove anything? She was with her book publisher. How could she be anywhere close to the murder? 

Were you shocked when she was arrested? I wasn’t surprised, but I was really sad. Kya doesn’t seem to be able to defend herself. Or, maybe she doesn’t want to. 

I was so excited when Kya started to publish her work. I loved all of the freedom that job gave her. She was able to fix up her house, she was able to buy her land, and she was able to finally live and not just survive on scraps. I was glad that Tate gave her the idea to publish, but I was still so frustrated with him.. I think my feelings about Tate mirrored Kya’s feelings about Tate in this section. 

Weren’t you so excited when Jodie showed up again? I was glad that he was doing so well, and I was glad that Kya was able to have that family connection and the paintings that her mother made. I wish her mother’s story had been a little happier, but I was glad that Jodie gave her some closure. 

What else stood out to you in this section? Are you anxious to finish the book, so you can finally figure out what’s going on? 

Before you go, check out this interview with the actress who plays Kya in the movie version. 

I hope you’re able to finish the book for next week. Make sure to leave a comment to let me know what you thought of this section!

Welcome to Week 2 of the Online Book Club discussion of Where the Crawdads Sing. 

Are you loving this book this month? I felt like the first 19 chapters just flew by. I didn’t want to stop reading!

Did you enjoy that the book started with a mystery? I was hooked–I wanted to figure out why there was a dead body in the marsh! 

What did you think of Kya throughout this section? She experiences a lot of growth in the first chapters. When we first meet her, she is reeling from the fact that her mother left the family. Then, all of her siblings leave, and she has to be alone with her dad. I was thankful that things with Kya’s father didn’t ever get too bad. I was so afraid he was going to really hurt her once he realized they were the only ones left. It was good that he taught her to fish. I loved seeing how Kya was able to learn to take care of herself as time went on. It was heartbreaking to see how alone she was, but it was nice to see that she learned to be pretty self-sufficient. 

I was so thankful for Jumpin’ and his wife, Mabel. They did so much for Kya, but they allowed her to keep her dignity. I don’t think Kya would have been able to survive without them in her corner. Do you think Jumpin’ and his wife were your favorite characters in this section? 

What are your thoughts on Tate? I was so glad that he taught Kya to read, and I appreciated how tender he was to take care of her and help her. What do you think is going to happen now that he’s going off to school? 

How does Chase Matthews fit into Kya’s story? At the end of the section, Chase’s mother wants to talk to the police about a shell necklace. Shell necklaces make me think of Kya. When do you think the two stories are going to start to intersect? There are rumors in town that Kya is connected to Chase, but I can’t imagine how the two of them would be connected. Chase doesn’t seem like the kind of person Kya would want to spend time with. He has not been kind to her in any of the interactions they’ve had so far. 

I think one of the saddest parts to read was the part where Kya attempted to go to school. Why was everyone so mean to her? They act like she is a wild animal, not a small girl who just needs someone to take care of her. I was a little surprised how easy it was for her to evade the truant officer, but I think that shows that he didn’t want to work to hard to make sure she was taken care of. 

What stood out to you the most in this section? What parts did you find the most heartbreaking? 

Before you go, check out the video below in which the author, Delia Owens, talks about her inspiration for the book. 

Thanks for following along this week! Make sure to leave a comment, so I know your thoughts on the first section. Make sure to read through chapter 38 for next week!

Welcome to Week 1 of the Online Book Club discussion of Where the Crawdads Sing.

The Online Book Club, if you’ve never joined us before, is a book discussion group that takes place entirely online. Each week, I write a new blog post that talks about different aspects of the book, and you can interact directly with me and other readers by leaving your comments. Check back each week and see what new topics we’re talking about.

Where the Crawdads Sing follows a girl named Kya who is forced, from a young age, to raise herself in the marshes of North Carolina. Shunned by her community, Kya becomes one with nature and becomes an expert in the flora and fauna around her. Jumping back and forth through different time periods, this book talks about Kya’s childhood years and the trouble that comes once a local young man is found dead in the marsh. 

If you want to follow along with us but you aren’t interested in reading the book, you can always watch the movie version starring Daisy Edgar-Jones. Check out the trailer above if you want to get a feel for the movie. Feel free to still leave comments on the blog posts, even if you’re only watching the movie and not reading the book.

We’ll read the first 19 chapters for next week, so make sure to read those before checking the next blog post! I can’t wait to hear your thoughts in the comments!