IntroductIon October 9 2012 Mingora Swat Valley Pakistan Malala was in a good mood traveling home from school She was pretty sure she’d aced the test that morning and was looking forward to a relaxing afternoon afternoon at home She was laughing with her best friend Moniba when the school bus stopped suddenly A young man was standing in the road He wore long white robes and a baseball cap Is this the Khushal School bus he asked Another young man jumped onto the back of the bus A hush fell over the girls as both men glared at them Heart hammering in her chest Malala found Moniba’s hand and gave it a squeeze Around twenty girls were crammed onto the hard plastic benches and they stared back stunned as the men scanned the bus Who is Malala the second man asked gruffly No one answered but a few of the girls glanced in Malala’s direction before they could stop themselves Then the same man raised a pistol Malala froze with fear The man fixed his gaze on her and aimed his pistol at her head The other girls began to scream 1
but Malala didn’t make a sound She just squeezed Moniba’s hand harder A split second later the man pulled the trigger and everything went black Malala was bleeding profusely profusely as the bus swerved through the heaving streets of Mingora speeding toward the local hospital Once there doctors said her prospects were grim so grim that with a heavy heart Malala’s dad began making funeral arrangements For a short while it looked like the men had succeeded in their quest to silence her But Malala did not die she survived and within days of her shooting she had become one of most famous famous teenagers on the planet And she was more determined determined than ever to stand up for what she believed in that every single girl in the world deserved to go to school And she wanted as many people to hear her message as possible She has since written books appeared on television and met all sorts of important people including President Obama and the Queen of England She’s also the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize 2
Incredible stuff right Yes but I'm actually quite ordinary you know Yeah right Didn’t Beyoncé wish you a happy birthday once Well yes And Selena Gomez called you her role model OK OK but I promise you the real Malala isn't all that different from other girls Really Yes I love television and I argue with my brothers over stupid things like the TV remote and who ate the last slice of pizza You like pizza Oh yes And curry And cupcakes Mmmmm especially especially cupcakes And I like reading and listening to music and shopping and hanging out with my friends Oh and I hate getting up in the morning Hmm all of that does sound pretty ordinary actually So what makes Malala’s story so special Well it didn’t start with the shooting and the sudden fame This ordinary girl was destined to achieve extraordinary extraordinary things from the very moment she was born 3
