32 pp. Expected publication date: April 8, 2025 from Frances Lincoln Children’s Books.
I always welcome stories that bring African heroes to the attention of the Global North, and am particularly pleased for this one aimed at children. William Kamkwamba is the brilliant Malawian engineer and inventor whose story was the subject of the movie “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind”; as a young boy out of school because his family could not afford it, he made windmills to supply electricity for his village. This book tells that tale, and also tracks his career and achievements since then in a timeline at the end of the book.
This is lovely for the sensitive portrayal of Kamkwamba’s life so far, and is also wonderful for the appropriate illustrations. Representation is not always done well, but here it is done perfectly.
Highly recommended. Many thanks to Frances Lincoln Children’s Books and Edelweiss for an early DRC.
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Harare Review of Books 
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