I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

Text type: autobiography (extended text)

The book “I am Malala” is an autobiography written by Malala Yousafzai, a young Pakistani woman who became like many, a victim of the Taliban. She tells her story of how she was standing up for all women and young girls in Pakistan to have equal rights, especially where education is considered, when the Taliban hunted her down and shot her yet this did not stop her from continuing to stand up for what she believes.

After reading this book, I had learnt many things one of which was how persistent Malala is. Although she writes about how she got shot by the Taliban and how much serious rehab it took to get strong and healthy again afterwards, she still continued to believe and fight for women to have an education during and after this ordeal. Most people would have been scared off by this incident which was the Taliban’s intention however it did not fase Malala one bit. I think this shows how strong Malala feels about the issue because she isn’t even afraid to potentially sacrifice herself to get her message across. This made me think about how there are not many people in our society like Malala who have the strength and bravery to stand up so strongly for what they believe. I think that by writing this book Malala wanted to show the reader how much of a difference just one person can make because like she says “one child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world.” From reading this book I believe that Malala is trying to encourage everyone to do the same as what she has done or at least to stand up for what they believe. I like how strongly Malala believes in the right for women to have an education and how she voices this belief because I believe it is an aspect/right that is often overlooked and not seen as being as important as it really is. I took persistence as a big lesson from this book which I think was Malala’s aim; to show that if you stick at something for long enough, you can make a difference, like she is now. In other media she has referenced and spoke about her interest in “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” using the quote “There will always be hurdles in life but if you want to achieve a goal, you must continue.” as what she learnt from that text. I believe that this is a great representation of Malala’s story because like Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz” Malala has faced many hurdles and obstacles however she has shown me that if you stop at these hurdles then you will never get anywhere. It is overcoming these hurdles and obstacles that will get you somewhere like Malala recovering from her injury stronger than ever. I think Malala mentions this and I think it is very powerful because she shows the reader that this is possible.

Overall I would recommend the book “I am Malala” because I think it gives a great insight into the lives and struggles of some religions around the world and it taught me the key idea of persistence and to never give up because eventually you will gain the results you want, like Malala is slowly doing now.