I Am Malala is an autobiography written by Malala Yousafzai, a girl from Mingora village in the far north of Pakistan who led a peaceful protest for women’s education, which she is continuing to this day. Autobiographies are often written by people who have gone through their adulthood, whereas this girl is only now entering college! Malala has gone through so much extraordinary — sometimes life-threatening — experiences that allowed her to share much more with her followers than many others could. In her precocious childhood, she has received a Nobel prize, given speeches about her ideas on better education to crowds of six thousand people, survived a death blow and endured even more drama.
Malala’s lifestyle and the pride she felt as a Pakistani was foreign to me. The book opened my eyes to a different world. Of course, I had known about the recent violence in her area, but I have only recently gained an interest in Pakistani culture because of my new friend Zariya, a second-generation Pakistani. Malala deeply loved Mingora and its “lush green hills.” This book made me wonder about the huge life decisions that many Pakistani people might have had to make, considering the bloody circumstances in their oppressed country. It made me think about their being forced to be immigrants, and their reluctance to abandon their beloved homes. Also, I can say from personal experience that it is overwhelmingly hard to start life over in an entirely new environment. For Malala, it was truly a big jump to move to a huge English-speaking city like New York from a small town like Mingora.
