Teenage girl shot by Taliban to publish ‘I Am Malala’

Malala Yousafzai, the girl who was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen while riding the bus to school in Pakistan, will publish a book in the fall. “I Am Malala” will be published in English in the U.S. in October by Little, Brown and also in England, where Yousafzai has been hospitalized.

On Oct. 9, 2012, Malala was shot in the head while riding on her school bus in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, as vengeance for her bold and public stand on education, which contravened the Taliban’s policies. The bullet passed through her head, but she survived, undergoing skull reconstruction surgery in England last month. Since then, Malala has become a symbol of courage and peaceful protest. Earlier this month, she returned to school -- this time, in Birmingham, England.

In a release about the book, Malala said: “I hope the book will reach people around the world, so they realize how difficult it is for some children to get access to education. I want to tell my story, but it will also be the story of 61 million children who can’t get education. I want it to be part of the campaign to give every boy and girl the right to go to school. It is their basic right.”

The memoir will recount in detail what occurred when Malala was shot, as well as her determination, supported by her family, to resist and remain firm in the face of extremism. In an excerpt from the book, she writes:

“I come from a country that was created at midnight. When I almost died it was just after midday. It was Tuesday, October 9, 2012, not the best of days as it was the middle of school exams, though as a bookish girl I don’t mind them as much as my friends do. We’d finished for the day and I was squashed between my friends and teachers on the benches of the open-back truck we use as a school bus. There were no windows, just thick plastic sheeting that flapped at the sides and was too yellowed and dusty to see out of, and a postage stamp of open sky at the back through which I caught a glimpse of a kite wheeling up and down. It was pink, my favorite color.”

According to the Guardian, the British side of the deal, with publisher Weidenfeld & Nicholson, is worth about $3 million, though the publisher declined to confirm it.