Review: I am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban

By Malala Yousafzai, Christina Lamb

This is the memoir of a teenage girl from the Swat valley in Pakistan who has lived a very different kind of life than most of us. It is a powerful story of living through poverty and oppression. Growing up in a region of Pakistan that while beautiful, is often ignored by the government, Malala Yousafzai was the oldest child of an educator. She details her family's struggles to make ends meet while her father continued what sometimes seemed like a one man crusade for education.

As people started to pay attention to her father, so did they pay attention to Malala. She stood strong as a beacon for girls' right to education. She received awards for her activism and chose to put the money from those awards towards furthering her cause rather than bettering her family's financial situation. The Taliban targeted her for promoting "westernization."

This story paints a vivid picture of the hardships endured by those who live in poverty. It also gives a different perspective on political actions and policies. For many Americans, a foreign government is either our ally or our enemy. Malala shows that the reality is much more complicated.

She details the way the Taliban worked to move into her area, and their methods to gain support. She tells about the oppression the Taliban instituted and how her beautiful home became a place of fear. She tells about the struggles of becoming a refugee in her own country and the struggles of returning home. And finally, she tells of the day she was shot and details her recovery in an English hospital.

Malala and her family live in England today, and she is the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize. She runs her own foundation promoting education for girls all over the world. I highly recommend this book.