Wow. Just, wow.

I read I am Malala while on vacation in Bali and could not put this book down. Every single person in the entire world needs to read her story. Malala is a girl who stood up for equal education, was shot in the head by the Taliban, and lived to tell the tale.

Throughout the book I learned about Malala and how she’s your average teenage girl – loves to read, do her hair, and talk about boys. She is humble, strong, and her relationship with her fearless father (who fought long and hard to keep his schools open in Pakistan despite threats from the Taliban) is endlessly inspiring.

Chills ran through my body when I read about the young man from the Taliban who stopped Malala’s school bus to ask, “who is Malala?” Seconds later he shot her in front of all of her schoolmates. The bullet skimmed her brain and landed near her shoulder. Everyone on the bus survived, including Malala. The part in the book when she’s taken away from her home and family to go to the U.K. for intensive care brought me to tears.

The most important lesson I learned from this book is the impact a loving family, freedom, and an education can have over a person.

We can help Malala by supporting The Malala Fund, an initiative to make sure girls around the world complete 12 years of safe, quality education. To show what she is fighting for, below is a video that looks as the challenges girls face in Nigeria. It’s an eye-opener.

I can’t talk about a book and not share my favourite quotes:

“No struggle can ever succeed without women participating side by side with men. There are two powers in the world; one is the sword and the other is the pen. There is a third power stronger than both, that of women.”

“It is far more honorable to fail than to cheat.”

“At night our fear is strong, but in the morning, in the light, we find our courage again.”

“Had there been no hope I would not be here.”

“We humans don’t realize how great God is. He has given us an extraordinary brain and a sensitive loving heart. He has blessed us with two lips to talk and express our feelings, two eyes which see a world of colors and beauty, two feet which walk on the road of life, two hands to work for us, a nose which smells the beauty of fragrence, and two ears to hear the words of love. As I found with my ear, no one knows how much power they have in their each and every organ until they lose one.”

“In my part of the world most people are known by their sons. I am of the few lucky fathers known by his daughter.”