I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World (Young Readers Edition)

Malala undergoes an eight-hour surgery to repair the severed facial nerve that causes the left side of her mouth to droop and her left eye to stay open. During the surgery, doctors also discover that her eardrum is burst. After four months of challenging physical therapy, Malala can smile and wink again. Her family stays in a nearby apartment and visits daily.

Malala regains her speech and most of her memories. She is appalled to see the errors in the early questions she wrote to the doctors. She reads The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and admires Dorothy’s spunk and willingness to help others. On a short trip to the Birmingham Botanic Gardens with her mother and some nurses, Malala is thrilled to see plants from the Swat Valley.

Asif Ali Zardari, the President of Pakistan and husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, meets with Malala and her family. He gives her several gifts and, to her awe, treats her with great respect. He promises to cover all her medical fees. He names Malala’s father as Pakistan’s education attaché in Birmingham. Malala is glad that she no longer needs to worry about money or her family but sad because she realizes she will not return to Pakistan any time soon.

Malala joins her family in their Birmingham apartment. The city is busy, stressful, and exciting after the hospital. Malala is amazed by how differently men and women interrelate with each other and how much more revealing women’s clothing is in England. Malala misses her old home, friends, and city. She Skypes with Moniba and learns that the other girls who were shot have recovered and the class is saving her seat in school. Malala also aced the exam she took the morning she was shot but lost her first-place position in class because of her absence. Malala vows to work harder and catch up.

Malala is upset to learn that some Pakistanis have a negative opinion of her, calling her an agent of the West and a “bad Muslim.” She counts her blessings, however. Another big surgery gives her a titanium plate in her head and a hearing implant and also removes the skull piece from her stomach—which Malala keeps as a souvenir. Malala believes that regaining her hearing, the fact that all three of the girls who were shot lived, and all the people who reached out to her after her injury are miracles.

Malala and her family move into a house in Birmingham. It is a beautiful home, but “too quiet” compared to their home in Mingora, which was always filled with visiting friends and relatives. Now, they do not know even know their neighbors, and they feel isolated and lonely. Each family member slowly adapts in their own way: Atal, for instance, discovers he loves Nutella. Malala is amazed at the diversity in Birmingham. She does not mind when people ask for her photograph because so many have supported her recovery and campaign.

It is difficult for Malala to fit in at her new school. Although everyone is kind and friendly, Malala is unused to the girls’ jokes and their freedom of expression. She misses her old friends but realizes that the new school offers opportunities and technological advances in education that her old school lacked. Malala slowly acclimates and recognizes she and the English girls have many things in common. She feels she must model good behavior so she can live up to public expectations. She writes, travels, studies, and promotes peace and education, but sometimes wishes she was just a regular teenager.

Though their lives have changed, some things remain the same. Malala still squabbles with Khushal and jokingly bickers with Moniba over Skype, but she knows the changes are hard for her family. Atal does not understand why she is famous, and her mother and father still cry when they think of almost losing her. They all miss Pakistan. Malala asks to go home, but her father refuses, saying she must get a complete education at the good schools in England and finish her medical treatment. Plus, Fazlullah has advanced to become leader of the Taliban in Pakistan, and it is unsafe for them to return. Instead, they bring friends and family to visit them, including Shazia and Kainat, the other two girls who were shot and who now attend school in England.

In his new position of education attaché, Malala’s father is proud and bemused that people want to hear him speak at conferences because Malala is famous. It bothers Malala when people blame her father for the Taliban attack and think that he made her speak out for girls’ education when Malala voices her own strong opinions. She knows that her father has lost everything he worked for by leaving behind the now-thriving Khushal School.

One year after the shooting, journalists vie for interviews with Malala. They are empathetic about her suffering, but Malala feels that she is not suffering; rather, she has been given a “second chance at life” (186). She is thankful for all her senses and being able to attend school and be with her family. When asked if she was denied her childhood, she counters by saying that girls who are married at a young age or children killed in wartime conflicts are the ones without childhoods.

Malala believes that the Taliban’s attack gave her a chance to create greater good. She establishes the Malala Fund, which helps girls in Swat who are trapped in child labor gain an education and independence. She meets with Syrian refugee children in Jordan and is determined to help them get basic life necessities and an education. Malala sees the world as a family and thinks it is up to everyone to help each other out. She believes that she is alive by God’s will for the purpose of helping others.

When Malala turns 16, she is invited to speak before the United Nations. She and her family make two trips to New York. Malala likes the energy of the city, though it is loud and crowded. She is a guest on TV host Jon Stewart’s show; she meets America Ferrara, who starred in the TV show Malala liked, Ugly Betty; and she visits President Barak Obama and his family. Malala respectfully tells Obama that US drone strikes kill innocents and increase terrorism and that he should spend more money on education than on weapons.

Malala directs her UN speech to everyone in the world to encourage them to stand up for their rights. In her speech, she calls herself “one girl among many” who speaks for those who cannot speak out (191). She petitions for their rights for peace, dignity, education, and equal opportunity. Malala realizes that God has answered her prayer and made her tall enough to speak to the world. God gave her the responsibility to work for peace and the gift of letting her voice be heard. Malala’s dreams are peace for everyone, everywhere, and education for all children.

Three years after being shot, and one year after the publication of her memoir, much has changed for Malala. Now 18, she recaps the last two years. Her family has settled into Birmingham. Malala’s mother has resumed learning English. Moniba is still Malala’s best friend. Malala discovers that UK schools demand more from their students compared to Pakistani schools, possibly because schools in Pakistan lack so many resources. Malala performs well on her GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) exams and will go on to take A-level tests and go to university. She wants to study politics and philosophy. Health-wise, she has almost completely recovered.

Malala hopes someday to return to Swat and be an influential politician, but Fazlullah is still the Taliban leader there. Malala vows to continue to promote education and peace. The movie about her life, He Named Me Malala, helps spread her message. She speaks again at the United Nations. In Syria, Malala meets Mizune, another girl who advocates for education. Malala travels to Nigeria to support the girls abducted by the Boko Haram.

Two years after her attack, Malala is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with Kailash Satyarthi, another children’s rights activist. Malala is deeply honored. She continues growing the Malala Fund, which has projects in Jordan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and other conflict-torn countries. She has opened schools and talked to world leaders. She gives any prize money she wins back to help people in Swat. Malala and her family deeply miss Pakistan, but they are heartened by the outpouring of international support. Malala insists she is still the same “stubborn girl who will never give up” (204).