I Am Malala

The story of a girl whose name is known all over the world, the girl who refused to be silent. On October 9, 2012, fifteen-year old Malala almost 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. 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. This is the incredible story of courage and resilience, full of lessons that are beautiful for living life.

## Book Reviews

**The Guardian:** "*I Am Malala*, Malala Yousafzai's fearless memoir, co-written with journalist Christina Lamb, begins on Malala's drive home from school on the day she was shot in the head. "Who is Malala?" the young gunman who stopped the Khushal school van asked. None of the girls answered. But everyone in the valley knew who Malala was. Ten years old when the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan came to the beautiful Swat Valley, once the home of ancient Buddhist kings, 11 years old by the time she had established herself as an international advocate for girls' education in Pakistan, Malala was targeted by the Taliban for "spreading secularism".

Ghostwritten books pose a constant difficulty – you are never sure whose voice is leading whose. Malala's voice has the purity, but also the rigidity, of the principled. Whether she is being a competitive teenager and keeping track of who she beat in exams (and by how much) or writing about the blog for the BBC that catapulted her on to the international stage – "We were learning how to struggle. And we were learning how powerful we are when we speak" – or talking about Pakistan's politicians ("useless"), Malala is passionate and intense. Her faith and her duty to the cause of girls' education is unquestionable, her adoration for her father – her role model and comrade in arms – is moving and her pain at the violence carried out in the name of Islam palpable." -Fatima Bhutto

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/30/malala-yousafzai-fatima-bhutto-review

**Publisher's Weekly Review:** "Yousafzai, the Pakistani teen who captured worldwide attention and admiration after surviving a violent attack from militant forces opposed to female education in her region, introduces the audio edition of her memoir with the same enthusiastic oratorical style that characterized her appearance before the United Nations. Emmy-winner Panjabi (The Good Wife) reads with a balanced tone that manages to embody both Yousafzai's youthful zeal and the seasoned perspective of coauthor and foreign correspondent Lamb. Panjabi's narration effectively evokes the attachment of Yousafzai to her community, and her annunciation and pronunciation lends authenticity to the production. A helpful PDF with color photos, a glossary, and a timeline is also included."

http://www.buffalolib.org/vufind/Record/1897757/Reviews

## Activities

As this is still such a current event, it deserves some real discussion. It deserves some what controversial discussion because we don't live in a world that is black and white. These are some great questions you can discuss and get different perspectives on.

http://www.littlebrown.com/rgg/MALALA\_RGG.pdf

## Other Links

Movie Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cug1-eTOVSk

Meet Malala: http://www.malala-yousafzai.com/