BooksforTopics Reading for Pleasure Recommendations
Book Title: Malala: My Story of Standing Up for Girls’ Rights (available here)
Author & Illustrator: Malala Yousafzai with Patricia McCormick
Publisher: Wren & Rook
Publication Date: November 2018
Most Suitable For: KS2
Reviewed By: Chris Whitney, Literacy Consultant
What an amazing true-life story told by Malala Yousafzai herself: the youngest person ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize! This edition is a chapter book adaptation of Malala’s memoir, I am Malala, told in a form suitable for Key Stage 2 children. The original account of events in Malala’s life thus far have been sensitively abridged. The text is accessible for children 7 – 11 years and is supported by line-art illustrations and simplified background facts pages. These are extremely useful in helping the reader to understand the context of the events within the book and the timescale of these same events.
Malala’s story is one of courage and determination – courage to continue the fight for girls’ rights, in particular, the right to go to school, even when faced with violence and extremism. It begins in the Swat valley of Northern Pakistan, a changing Pakistan, where Malala and her family lived a normal and peaceful life. Her father runs the local school, but life changes for the family when terrorists move into their region and forbid girls to go to school. Malala disagreed with this and so began her courageous battle for the right of education for all children. This fight almost cost her life. On October 9th 2012, on the way home from school, she was shot.
The book follows her story as she wakes up in a hospital in Birmingham and after life-saving surgery, continues her mission to speak out against intolerance and extremism.
It is a story full of hope and encouragement, where the reader cannot help but feel inspired by Malala’s words and unrelenting determination to stand up for what she believes in.
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You can order Malala: My Story of Standing Up for Girls’ Rights online or from your local bookshop or library.
Many thanks to the publisher for sending us a review copy of this book and to Chris Whitney for reviewing it.
