50 pages 1 hour read

Malala Yousafzai, Patricia McCormick

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

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | YA | Published in 2014

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Key Figures

Malala Yousafzai

Fifteen-year-old Malala has a lot in common with other teenage girls—she enjoys pizza and cupcakes, gossiping with her friends, and quarrelling with her brothers—yet Malala is unique among her peers. From an early age, Malala has had a passion for knowledge and a keen awareness of inequity. Although educated in Islam at a madrasa like other young Pakistani children, Malala is fortunate to attend her father’s school for girls, which teaches a wide range of subjects. Religion is important to Malala, and she is a practicing Muslim. Her faith, however, differs from the Taliban’s extremist version of Islam.

Malala learns that education is the key to independence from cultural constraints and poverty. Malala knows that women in Pakistani culture are largely undervalued and do not enjoy the same freedoms, rights, or privileges as men. Malala values her parents’ unconditional support and love. Consequently, Malala is secure in her self-identity. She confidently decides not to veil herself and views school as a source of freedom, where girls can express their true selves.

Young Malala experiences both the horrors of terrorism and the ravages of war. Although afraid for herself and her family, the injustices she witnesses motivate her to stand up for girls’ right to education.

Related Titles

By these authors

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE

logo

I Am Malala

Christina Lamb, Malala Yousafzai

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban

Christina Lamb, Malala Yousafzai

Plot Summary

logo

My Brother's Keeper

Patricia McCormick

My Brother's Keeper

Patricia McCormick

Study Guide

logo

Never Fall Down

Patricia McCormick

Never Fall Down

Patricia McCormick

Study Guide

logo

Purple Heart

Patricia McCormick

Purple Heart

Patricia McCormick