The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Prologue-Chapter 2

Reading Check

1. What are the Gule Wamkulu?

2. Who is Hastings Kamuzu Banda?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is William fearful after swallowing the chewing gum?

2. What is the problem with getting haircuts in the trading center?

3. What is the moral of the Leopard and the Lion?

Paired Resource

“African Folktales”

• This site from the Anike Foundation links to a variety of African folktales.
• How do folktales blend reality and fantasy? How does this blend connect to the theme of Magic Versus Science?

Chapters 3-6

Reading Check

1. What disease does William’s Uncle John contract?

2. Why do the villagers visit Chief Wimbe?

3. Why does William want to attend a boarding school?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is William’s father concerned about handing over the family business to Jeremiah?

2. Why is January known as “the hungry season”?

3. Why do most Malawians go to bed at 7:00pm?

4. Why do genders eat separately in Malawi?

Paired Resource

“A Woman’s Place”

• This story from the Peace Corps website shares the experience of a Peace Corps member, Mady Hughes, who confronted gender differences during her time in Malawi.
• How does Hughes’s experience mirror those discussed in these chapters of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind? How does William’s desire to make life easier for the women in his family connect to the theme of Hope and Determination?

Chapters 7-10

Reading Check

1. What part of his school uniform was William missing?

2. What do the clinics give the people to protect them from the cholera outbreak?

3. Where does William find the parts for his windmill?

4. Who pays for the dynamo William needs for the windmill?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is William disappointed to learn he was going to Kachokolo?

2. How do the farmers know the dowe is ready?

3. How does William catch up when he cannot attend school?

4. What happens to Khamba?

Paired Resource

“Malawi: School-Age Children”

• This UNICEF resource shares the challenges and possible solutions of education in Malawi.
• How common is it for children like William to be unable to continue their education? What are some of the contributing factors?

Chapters 11-13

Reading Check

1. Whose radio does William use for the first test of the windmill?

2. Who gives William the idea to charge mobile phones with the electricity generated by the windmill?

3. What new project does William turn to after the success of his windmill?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How do the villagers’ attitudes toward William change once he proves that his windmill generates electricity?

2. Why is the wiring system that William creates to bring lights into his house so dangerous?

3. Why does William try to capture biogas?

Paired Resource

“How Rotting Vegetables Make Electricity”

• This video explains how biogas is created.
• What are the benefits of biogas? Is it a likely alternative to fossil fuels?

Chapter 14-Epilogue

Reading Check

1. At which conference does William share his story?

2. Who is Tom Rielly?

3. Where does William go to improve his English?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does Dr. Mchazime change William’s life?

2. Why are William’s applications to many secondary schools rejected?

3. Why does William admire Bingu wa Mutharika, the president of Malawi?

Recommended Next Reads 

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb

• Born in Pakistan in 1997, Malala Yousafzai challenged cultural norms and pursued her education, despite restrictions placed on girls and women. In this 2013 memoir, Yousafzai chronicles the costs, but also the rewards, of standing firm in her conviction that access to education for girls should be a fundamental human right.
• Shared themes include Hope and Determination, Corruption, and Friendship.
• I Am Malala on SuperSummary

Educated by Tara Westover

• In this 2018 memoir, Tara Westover tells the story of her fight to obtain an education against the odds. Set in the 1980s and 1990s, Westover describes her limited access to education as a member of a radical Mormon family in Idaho.
• Shared themes include Hope and Determination.
• Educated on SuperSummary