BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSIn this memoir, William Kamkwamba tells how he grew up in a small farming village in Malawi and, after being forced to drop out of school during a devastating famine, taught himself about electricity and wind power from a library book and built a working windmill out of scrap parts when he was fourteen years old.
Free Battle of the Books questions for The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
SPOILERSEvery one of these has the same answer, and that is the point. In a real battle the question is read aloud with a dozen other books in play, and students have a few seconds to place it. Here is what a battle might ask about The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. Use them as a quiz, a trivia round, or BOTB practice.
Where in the book they come from
- Early in the book
In what book do friends greet each other with a slang routine of "bo," "sharp," and "fit"?
✓ Answer
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba
William, Gilbert, and Geoffrey use a strict greeting routine. The word bo is short for bonjour, started by chaps in secondary school showing off their French. The exchange continues with sharp, sure, and fit if they are feeling especially good.
- First half
In what book do hungry villagers fight to buy chicken feed maize husks during a famine?
✓ Answer
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba
As the famine hits Malawi, market women sell sacks of gaga, the chaff normally fed to chickens or used as bird trap bait. People shove and fight to buy it for one hundred kwacha a bag, ten times what it cost a month earlier. The narrator runs home in shock.
- First half
In what book does a sister elope with a teacher and leave a note in a diaper bag?
✓ Answer
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba
The narrator's older sister Annie elopes with a teacher named Mike from Mtunthama. She leaves a note in their baby sister's diaper bag that says, "I got married to the teacher. I'm safe, don't worry." The family does not hear from her for over a year.
- Second half
In what book does a student hide in a school latrine to slip back into class without paying?
✓ Answer
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba
Determined to keep learning, William ducks into the latrines during fee assembly, peeks out the tiny window, and slips into the crowd of paid students like a cat in the henhouse. The trick lasts two weeks.
- Second half
In what book does a teen scavenger flatten Carlsberg bottle caps to use as washers?
✓ Answer
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba
Without proper hardware to secure the bolts on his rotor, William gathers sixteen beer caps from outside Ofesi Boozing Centre and hammers them flat. They work perfectly, holding the blades tight against the tractor fan.
- Near the end
In what book does a teen lure chickens into his bedroom to gobble fallen termites?
✓ Answer
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba
After a roof beam infested with termites finally breaks, William tosses bugs at passing chickens to coax them inside. Once they clear out, he discovers his electrical wires have crossed and only their cheapness saved the house from fire.
