Last night’s Grammys were full of interesting performances and surprising wins (Beck, what?). No doubt your sons are familiar with many of the winners. But one Grammy award they might not have focused on deserves their attention: The 2015 Grammy (Children’s Album) was awarded to Neela Vaswani for her narration of I AM MALALA: HOW ONE GIRL STOOD UP FOR EDUCATION AND CHANGED THE WORLD. This powerful tale of a young girl who stood up for women’s rights in her homeland is a great book for your sons aged 10 and older to read. It’s an inspiring first-person story of what one teen can accomplish — and what it costs her and her loved ones. And if they are not enthusiastic readers, they can listen to an award winning audiobook version of it, delivered by Vaswani, an award winning author of fiction and non-fiction.
Here is the publisher’s overview of the book:
Malala Yousafzai was only ten years old when the Taliban took control of her region. They said music was a crime. They said women weren’t allowed to go to the market. They said girls couldn’t go to school. Raised in a once-peaceful area of Pakistan transformed by terrorism, Malala was taught to stand up for what she believes. So she fought for her right to be educated. And on October 9, 2012 she nearly lost her life for the cause: She was shot point-blank while riding the bus on her way home from school. No one expected her to survive.
Now she is an international symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize winner. In this Young Readers Edition of her bestselling memoir, we hear firsthand the remarkable story of a girl who knew from a young age that she wanted to change the world—and did. Malala’s powerful story will open your eyes to another world and will make you believe in hope, truth, miracles, and the possibility that one person—one young person—can inspire change in her community and the world.
