I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban - Tapa dura

One of the more moving details in I am Malala, the memoir Malala has written with journalist Christina Lamb, is that her mother was due to start learning to read and write on the day Malala was shot - 9 October 2012. (Kamila Shamsie The GUARDIAN)

Malala Yousafzai's story begins with her parents being commiserated with after producing a baby girl. In their part of northern Pakistan, she says, rifle shots ring out in celebration of a baby boy's arrival. But there is no such fanfare for females: their destiny is to cook and clean, to be neither seen nor heard... So how did Malala, who barely warranted a mention in her family's genealogy, become destined for the history books as a powerful symbol for girls' universal right to an education? Her memoir I AM MALALA tells us how. (Baroness Wasi DAILY TELEGRAPH)

This memoir brings out her best qualities. You can only admire her courage and determination. Her thirst for education and reform appear genuine. She also has an air of innocence, and there is an indestructible confidence. She speaks with such poise that you forget Malala is 16. (Ziauddin Sardar THE TIMES)

Her story is astonishing. (Owen Bennett-Jones THE SPECTATOR)

The medical team that saved Malala; her own stoicism and resilience; the support of her family, now, again in exile, this time in Birmingham; Malala's level-headed resolve to continue to champion education and children's rights- these are all powerful reminders of the best in human nature. Much of the money Malala has been awarded has gone to the Malala fund (www.malalafund.org). "Please join my mission," she asks. It's vital that those of us who can, do. (Yvonne Roberts THE OBSERVER)

Moving and illuminating (Catherine Bennett THE OBSERVER)

Malala's evocation of place, beautifully and lovingly described, and her paean to her father with his own passion for education, are fascinating. But so is her toughness. She describes seeing a young girl selling oranges, clearly unable to read or write: "I took a photo of her and vowed I would do everything in my power to help educate girls like her. This was the war I was going to fight." This remarkable book is part memoir, part manifesto. I feel enriched from having read it. I also feel humbled. Our obsession with school performance is suddenly marginalised by a story in which education, quite literally, proves a matter of life and death. (Geoff Barton THE EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT)

Malala's voice has the purity, but also has the rigidity, of the principled. Whether she is being a competitive teenager and keeping track of who she bet in exams (and by how much) or writing a blog for the BBC that catapulted her on to the international stage - "We were learning how to struggle. And we were learning how powerful we are when we speak" - or talking about Pakistan's politicians ("useless"), Malala is passionate and intense. Her faith and her duty to the cause of girls' education is unquestionable, her adoration for her father- her role model and comrade in arms- is moving and her pain at the violence carried out in the name of Islam is palpable. (Fatima Bhutto THE GUARDIAN)

Part memoir, part mission statement. I am Malala recounts the early life of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl who spoke out against the Taliban and was shot for her defiance. Her recovery, bravery and stoicism - and her father, Ziauddin - make for shocking and moving reading. (EMERALD STREET)

The world is entranced by the story of the 15-year-old girl who was shot in the head by the Taliban because she wished to go to school. Flown over to Birmingham for emergency surgery, she has emerged as an elegant and brave spokesgirl for a better future, to the extent that she almost won the Nobel peace prize and has become a sought-after speaker. This book should inspire girls the world over. (CATHOLIC HERALD)