I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai : Book Review

Title: I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
Author: Malala Yousafzai , Christina Lamb
Audio Narrator: Archie Panjabi
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Published Date: November 5th 2013
Genre: Non-fiction, Biography
Format: Audio 

My Rating: 

Goodreads Summary: 
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 nominee ever for the Nobel Peace Prize.
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

 My Review:
“I don't want to be thought of as the "girl who was shot by the Taliban" but the "girl who fought for education." This is the cause to which I want to devote my life.”

This book reminded me how much I take for granted, freedom of speech, freedom of education, freedom to not have to constantly have a male escort.

Malala’s family is a little unconventional with her father not only celebrating her life, but always making sure her voice was heard and that she wasn’t to be hidden away. He believed that everyone should have an education and a chance at bettering there life and that it shouldn’t depend on if they are male or female. Her father also always asked her mother for her opinion on things and always told her everything. Her father is also a teacher/school owner he is always working to make sure that the less fortunate have a chance at an education and food to make sure they do well.  Malala also wants these things and when she see’s children having to scrounge threw the trash to find things to sell she tells her father and he then goes and tries to help them. Because of these things , you can tell that she makes her parents proud. As she gets older she starts traveling with her father and giving her opinion in speeches and TV interviews (despite her mother not really liking this due to Malala then becoming a target for the Taliban). Even though she is very young when she starts this you can tell that her opinions are strong and that she is a very smart young lady.

After she is shot not only does she not hate the Taliban, she wants to show them that their fear tactics aren’t going to work and that the education for all movement will continue.

She truly is an amazing woman and deserves all the recognition that she is getting.  More voices like her need to be heard so that everyone in the world can realize that the Taliban isn’t something they all believe in, nor is it truly following their religion.  

I urge everyone to read or listen to this book and see from someone who has lived there what it is truly like and how it all slowly happened.  

“He believed that lack of education was the root of all of Pakistan’s problems. Ignorance allowed politicians to fool people and bad administrators to be re-elected.”