Book 8 I am Malala

  

I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai fulfills the category “Book I Saw on Someone Else’s Bookshelf” for the PopSugar 2021 Reading Challenge.

I’ll be honest. I’m in a Facebook group for the PopSugar Challenge. A bunch of us posted pics of our bookshelves to help with this prompt. Most are still stuck in our homes and unable to check out other people’s shelves in person. Plus, I work at a library. I could’ve grabbed a random title from the New and Popular section. Anyway, the title legit was on another reader’s shelf. Thank you to my awesome Facebook group.

Let me say, I’m so glad I finally read this. I have a sixteen-year-old daughter and felt the message very hard. I also live in the United States in a liberal-minded state with a good job. My white privilege glowed around me as I read the compelling story. I was in awe of Malala’s journey, her perseverance, her stellar character. Here is a woman we can all look up to.

In case you haven’t read it, Malala is a young woman from the Swat Valley in Pakistan. In her own words, she describes the love for her country and her valley specifically. She talks about her family traditions and how her house is a little different. She discusses the importance of religion in her family and community. She also describes living with and the war with the Taliban in a perspective everyone needs to hear. Her family had to live with the terror of war, suppression, and religious persecution for years. All the while, Malala and her father fought for education, specifically for girls and women. At sixteen, she stood up for what she felt was a right—education and the Taliban shot her. They claimed their reason was her siding with the US, but we all know it was about the suppression of women.

I loved the book for many reasons. One aspect that helped me was Malala’s description of her religion. I’m not a religious person and don’t know very many of the Muslim faith. The book gave me a good education about Islam, not in dogma or ceremony, but in its people. I learned so much about their religion—how it touched their lives and what happened when one group twisted the words of the Koran to their own purposes. It sounded like some aspects of Evangelical Christianity in the US. The more I read, the more I understood, the more questions I had. Learning about other cultures and religions can only help us understand and love each other better.

The book scared me too. I kept placing my daughters in Malala’s position. Would I have let them continue to speak publicly if someone threatened their lives? Her family was so brave to stand up. If only more people who are suppressed could be that brave… Wait, no, if only people of wealth and privilege could be more helpful… I was so glad (not a spoiler) that when she was shot, the world responded and helped get her the medical attention she needed. Now she can continue to be a living symbol of freedom. If only the world could do this for every child in a war-torn country… We have work to do, people.

I give I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai Five More Peace Prizes and hope that she can continue to be a light in our world.