Wonderstruck

Wonderstruck
By Brian Selznick

This thick, heavy book may look intimidating at first glance--but you will race through Wonderstruck, both because the plot is so compelling and because half of it is told through pictures!
I enjoyed trying to figure out the connections between the text-only story of a boy who just lost his mother (and his hearing, from a lightning strike) and the drawings of a deaf girl, many years before, who runs away from home to New York City.
Full of curious characters, unusual museum artifacts, and unexpected friendships, Wonderstruck is an unconventional half-graphic-novel you will no doubt enjoy!

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Young Readers Edition

by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer

What an inspiring story! What an impressive young man!
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is the true story of how William Kamkwamba--a young teenager driven by curiosity--built his own wind turbine out of junk to generate electricity for his home in rural Malawi, a small country in Africa. Not only did he succeed with this challenging project (and several others), he overcame many obstacles: like being kicked out of school because his family couldn't afford to pay, and a severe famine in his country that left him and his entire village starving for many months.
And, by the way, this boy completely taught himself the science necessary to build a windmill, with books from a small library...and no access to the Internet.