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

Use these activities to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity. 

ACTIVITY 1: “Mini Memoir”

I Am Malala is a memoir: a nonfiction narrative focusing on a pivotal event or time in the author’s life. Malala frames her memoir with the traumatic event of being shot by the Taliban and then describes her life leading up to and after her shooting, and how it impacted her Identity and sense of purpose. Memoirs do not have to be serious, like Malala’s. They can also be funny. Explore a few short (essay-length) memoirs online. 

Teenink features memoirs written by teenagers. Harrison Scott Key’s “My Dad Tried to Kill Me with an Alligator” is an example of a humorous memoir. Scaachi Koul shares a story about growing up and trying to learn her mother’s cooking in “There’s No Recipe for Growing Up.”

Pick a moment in your life, from your childhood or more recently, that had a formative impact. Write a 3-5 paragraph first-person narrative describing this event. Publish and share in Google Classroom.

Alternatively, create a graphic memoir.