I Am Malala

Book 3 of my 2015 Reading Challenge

read from Jan. 4 - Jan. 12

I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World

by Malala Yousafzai with Patricia McCormick

**Note: I read the Young Readers Edition and don't know if/how it differs from her original memoir.

Summary (via the book jacket)

Malala Yousafzai was only ten years old when the Taliban took control of her region. They said music was a crime. They said women weren't allowed to go to the market. They said girls couldn't go to school.

Raised in a once-peaceful area of Pakistan transformed by terrorism, Malala was taught to stand up for what she believes. So she fought for her right to be educated. And on October 9, 2012, she nearly lost her life for the cause. She was shot point-blank while riding the bus on her way home from school.

No one expected her to survive.

Now she is an international symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize nominee. In this Young Readers Edition of her bestselling memoir, which includes exclusive photos and material, we hear firsthand the remarkable story of a girl who knew from a young age that she wanted to change the world - and did.

Malala's powerful story will open your eyes to another world and will make you believe in hope, truth, miracles, and the possibility that one person - one young person - can inspire change in her community and beyond.

My Opinion

What an inspiration. Named for the Pashtun heroine Malalai, who inspired her countrymen with her courage, Malala absolutely lives up to her name.

I was completely ignorant of how much Malala had done prior to being shot. While Malala showed extreme courage and conviction, this book helped me realize the impact on her entire family. It began with her dad ignoring customs about how girls were treated from the moment she was born and raising her to be confident and value education. It continued with support from her mom.  The discrepancy between her dad running a school and her mom being illiterate was a good illustration of the culture, and I was happy to read Malala inspired her mom to learn to read. Her entire family, including her brothers, had to adjust to life in England (where they've lived since the shooting). 

I bought this as a present for my daughter and look forward to the conversations we will have after she reads it.

A Few Quotes from the Book

"The Taliban shot me to try to silence me. Instead, the whole world was listening to my message now."

"But my father told me not to worry [about the Taliban]. 'I will protect your freedom, Malala,' he said. 'Carry on with your dreams'."

"I had grown up hearing the word terrorism, but I never really understood what it meant. Until now. Terrorism is different from war - where soldiers face one another in battle. Terrorism is fear all around you. It is going to sleep at night and not knowing what horrors the next day will bring. It is huddling with your family in the center-most room in your house because you've all decided it's the safest place to be. It is walking down your own street and not knowing whom you could trust. Terrorism is the fear that when your father walks out the door in the morning, he won't come back at night."

"This was my calling. Some powerful force had come to dwell inside me, something bigger and stronger than me, and it had made me fearless. Now it was up to me to give my father a dose of the courage he had always given me."