“I was a girl in a land where rifles are fired in celebration of a son, while daughters are hidden away behind a curtain, their role in life simply to prepare food and give birth to children.”
Summary:
I come from a country that was created at midnight. When I almost died it was just after midday.
When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education.
On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive.
Instead, Malala’s miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. At sixteen, she has become a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
I Am Malala is the remarkable tale of a family uprooted by global terrorism, of the fight for girls’ education, of a father who, himself a school owner, championed and encouraged his daughter to write and attend school, and of brave parents who have a fierce love for their daughter in a society that prizes sons.
My Thoughts:
The title serves as a perfect summary of the story. I Am Malala is a memoir of Malala’s experiences fighting for girls’ education in the middle east while terrorist groups imposed extreme laws. She is a fighter for peace and education for all, and you will love her.
I loved this book. I have been telling everyone I speak with to read it. Malala writes about recent history in a way that relatable yet alarming, like you should have know that was going on. Often I kept forgetting she is a live right now. It can be easy to get lost in the long history of her land and events you may not be familiar with. You’ll find pop culture references to relate with as you read, my favorite being Twilight.
“I was ten when the Taliban came to our valley. Monica and I had been reading the Twilight books and longed to be vampires. It seemed to us that the Taliban arrived in the night just like vampires.”
Who wasn’t reading Twilight in their tweens? A reminder of how The Twilight Saga took the world by storm, even the parts of the world that were facing severe problems like extreme terrorism.
There were many events and names that I have no idea of the significance behind. This is ignorance on my own part and a reminder of how little world history we are taught in school. Malala writes as if the reader has an idea of what has happened, luckily my copy had a timeline in the back and a glossary. These were useful. I found myself not only admiring Malala but her family as well. Her father fought for education, and her mother allowed her to be who she wanted to be.
Should you read I Am Malala?
YES! If you have not read I Am Malala, I highly encourage you to do so. If you have what did you think?
Lit Lemon Books 
Great review, I still need to read this!
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You do! I regret not reading it sooner 🙂
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I read this book with my son a few years ago and we both gained so much from it. Malala is a very special young woman, full of courage and inner strength.
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