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The community read for Central College’s fall semester will be the book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer. The book is actually William’s story of growing up in poverty in Malawi, Africa, and having to leave school as a young boy to work on the family farm. Through the use of pictures from out-dated textbooks and parts from an abandoned tractor and half a bicycle, he built a windmill from scratch that generated electricity and running water for his family.

Mealer, an African correspondent for the Associated Press, will visit the Central College campus in October for several functions, including Central’s Writers Reading Program. Kamkwamba will be a first-year student at Dartmouth College this fall.

The community read is a program in its fourth year at Central College that unites new students with Central faculty and staff by reading the same book together as a required experience to introduce student to the intellectual life at a liberal arts college.

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