William Kamkwamba
Recognized in the Creative Minds Montessori 2026 Teacher’s Choice list.
William Kamkwamba is one of roughly one hundred authors whose work was selected by the Montessori-certified teachers at Creative Minds Montessori for the 2026 Teacher’s Choice list — 120 books chosen across four reading stages, from first lap-reads to first chapter books. The selected book was chosen for how precisely it meets children at a real developmental moment. This recognition cannot be bought: no author or publisher paid to appear on our lists, and we take no commission on any book sale.
About William Kamkwamba
At fourteen, after his family could no longer afford his school fees during a drought in Malawi, William Kamkwamba built an electricity-generating windmill out of scrap parts that brought power to his family's home and helped them pump water for their land. He went on to Dartmouth College, became a TED Fellow, and co-founded the Moving Windmills Project; his memoir with Bryan Mealer was adapted into this picture book and into a Netflix film.
Out of school, Kamkwamba kept learning with the help of the village librarian, and built the windmill from a photograph in a high-school physics textbook called Using Energy — with no instructions and no formal training.
Also by this author: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (Young Readers Edition)
Official website: www.williamkamkwamba.org
Selected for the 2026 Teacher’s Choice list
Part of The Best Children’s Books by Age, chosen by the teachers at Creative Minds Montessori in Frisco, TX.