I Am Malala - Malala Yousafzai with Patricia McCormick

So I picked up this book on Christmas Day, incredibly excited, but a couple of days later, once festivities had calmed down, I read the majority of this incredible story - about this incredible girl - in one night. I Am Malala. The story of Malala, the girl who fights for the rights of girls and education. The girl who, although wants people to focus on her message and not her story, is my absolute inspiration because of what she stands for and because of the incredible person she is.

This book needs to be read by as many people as possible. Malala's humbleness makes me know how lucky we are to have a girl spreading such an awesome message in this world- it makes me know I will do better to spread goodness. Her courage is the most amazing thing- for even when she fears she is strong. She is bold and she is brave and she stands for everything I want to be and everything I want to say. And so I must say it. We all must say it.

 

Malala understood from a very young age that she wanted to learn. That she didn't like that women were expected to cook and clean and the men were to have, to her and her culture, the luxury of education and all that comes from it. She knew she was having her right for education and she got and is getting it.

She campaigns for the right of every girl and every boy to have education. She taught me in this book that I was silly for spending any time feeling negative about school (of course there are situations personal to many that vary) because I have been so lucky with my schooling career. She shows us these cultures where girls can sometimes never be educated, or be taken out of schooling to get married or where children's families are too poor for them to go to school- they must work to provide for them instead. Of course this needs to be campaigned for every single second of every single day.

This book is captivating. We learn about her family; a family made with love. A father who would never hold back his daughter and a mother who knew the importance of education. We see how Malala is still exactly who she was before her voice was louder, partially because of her two little brothers. We empathise for her and how she cannot go home. We stand by what she says. We ache for goodness in her life, even though that isn't what she is asking for.

I Am Malala is an incredible book and we must spread its message: Education for every boy and every girl must be worked towards. Always.

I rate this book 5/5!

A Girl & A Message,

The Girl in the Moonlight.

P.S. I wasn't going to post this until January because I like using Boxing Day-New Year on the blog to round up 2015 but this book has immediately become one of my favourites and will be featured (SPOILER!) in "My Favourite Books: 2015" post coming soon!