Nonfiction Book Blog - 1

Book Title: For the Right to Learn Malala Yousafzai’s Story

Author: Rebecca Langston-George

Illustrator: Janna Bock

Publisher: Capstone Press

Copyright: 2016

# of Pages: 40

Genre: Biography/Nonfiction

“One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world.” – Malala Yousafzai

       For the Right to Learn is a story about an inspiring young teenager, Malala Yousafzai. She is from Pakistan where females were not seen as equal to men. Malala was blessed to grow up with a family that saw education was important and from a young age she attended school. Most children in Pakistan cannot afford to attend school, so families typically only sent their sons because they believe daughters should cook and keep house.  Malala loved school and learned three languages and even won awards. The Taliban started gaining more power in Pakistan and forced girls to stop going to school, movies were banned, radios were full of Taliban preaching, women had to wear burqas, and men could not shave. Malala was not afraid of the threats her family received for continuing their education and keeping the school running. The Taliban ended up forcing everyone out of her town and when they came back three months later, her home was not the same. Malala’s pen name, Gul Makai, she had used to blog about her experiences of being forced out of an education and her home became international news. Taliban put Malala on their hit list, yet Malala refused to stay silent. One day while riding the bus home with her friends, the bus came to a sudden stop. A man came on the bus and asked, “Who is Malala?” then... there were gun shots. To know what happened to Malala you will need to read the rest of her story.

         I know this book can be very heavy for a school classroom, but I believe it is important to educate young, American students in what is going on in other countries. I think this story will make them realize what they have here is great and not to mistreat their free education. I think this story would also be an educational experience about another culture and the life of someone in that culture. To realize that everyone goes through something in their life that changes who they are and learn that they can take those challenges and create something beautiful out of them.

         Janna Bock does a wonderful job with the illustrations. They are painted and capture so many details. Each illustrations helps you to capture the way Malala felt and lead you to the next page. The illustrations are colorful and lifelike. She captures so many emotions in the characters faces which draws a reader into the story. The illustrations in the book also add to the changing tone of the book. At the very beginning, the times for Malala were very happy. The illustrations reflected that by being bright and colorful. However, when Malala started to go through hard times, the illustrations become shadowed. I really enjoyed the illustrations.

         Content Area and Grade: Language Arts Grade 3, 4, 5
ALSDE

Literature as a Catalyst for Social Action: Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges:
Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience.

Students are invited to confront and discuss issues of injustice and intolerance reading a variety of fiction and nonfiction texts.