An activist for education and women's rights, Malala Yousafzai has run a blog for the BBC, starred in a New York Times documentary about Pakistan, and been nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize. Only fifteen years old, she was shot in the head and neck by the Taliban in October 2012. She survived the assassination attempt and became even more successful; she was named one of Time's "100 Most Influential People in the World" and nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. With help from Oxford-educated British journalist Christina Lamb, Yousafzai wrote I Am Malala as equal parts autobiography and memoir.
The best parts, in my opinion, are when Yousafzai uses anecdotes to let the reader know what her life really feels like. Even when not much is occurring, the writing becomes more detailed and relatable when Yousafzai writes a first-hand account. For example, she writes, "That morning we arived in the narrow mud lane off Haji Baba Road in our usual procession of brightly painted rickshaws, sputtering diesel fumes, each one crammed with five or six girls" (3). Because she experienced this herself, Yousafzai is able to convey the event better than if she had simply researched it. The anecdotes often include imagery and sensory details that allow the reader to imagine the smell of diesel fuel or the sight of the brightly colored rickshaws.
Although the autobiographical information is interesting, Yousafzai (likely with some prodding from Lamb) sometimes gives a lot of information that I, as a reader of a book about Malala Yousafzai, do not find necessary. She dedicates a large section to her father's background and beliefs; the information seems both impersonal and slightly irrelevant. (After all, the book is not called I Am Ziauddin.) I realize that Yousafzai and Lamb are trying to inform readers, but I feel like it was distracting and forced. Other than that complaint, the book is generally well-written and the authors are entertaining and informing in the way that they wanted to be.
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