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

by Malala Yousafazai with Patricia McCormick

Ages: 10 – 17 (approximately grades 4 – 11)

Malala Yousafazai is a young Pakistani woman who is a world-renown advocate for women’s rights and children’s (especially girls’) education. This Young Readers Edition of her autobiography, I Am Malala, takes readers on the journey through Malala’s life: her early quest for education, her war-torn childhood, the Taliban infiltration of her home town, the limitation of her freedoms, and ultimately the Taliban’s attack that made her famous across the globe. Not only do readers learn the history of Pakistan’s troubles involving the government and terrorism, both through Malala’s personal narrative and a Time Line of Important Events provided in the appendix, but this famous young woman is humanized as a sister who plays with and teases her brothers, a daughter whose safety is the utmost importance to her parents, a schoolgirl who is competitive to a fault about her grades, a modest girl of great faith whose favorite color is pink and loves Ugly Betty and the Wizard of Oz.

Beyond telling the incredible story of this 2014 Nobel Peace Award recipient, I Am Malala shows young readers that standing up for what they believe in is a noble and valiant cause. That although they may themselves be young like Malala, their voices are ones that are strong and can be heard as hears was. Although Malala was shot by the Taliban, she keeps the perspective that “…out of the violence and tragedy came opportunity.” Never once does Malala feel sorry for herself, or stop believing in herself or her campaign. Even after a brush with death and being relocated from Pakistan all the way to England for her own safety, Malala sees her life with bright, hopeful eyes that never leave her ultimate goal of every female’s freedom, and every child’s right to education.

Find I Am Malala, the Young Readers Edition, in our catalog.