Malala's campaign to teach reaches a younger audience

Malala Yousafzai is the living example of righteousness. The Pakistani champion of education was 15 when the Taliban shot her in the head and neck. It looked as if she would die. She recovered and exactly two years later was awarded the Novel Peace Prize. At 17, she became its youngest recipient. Her writing has attracted a following since...

In 'Malala's Magic Pencil,' the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize has written a charming book for children.Kerascoet 

Malala Yousafzai is the living example of righteousness.

The Pakistani champion of education was 15 when the Taliban shot her in the head and neck. It looked as if she would die. She recovered and exactly two years later was awarded the Novel Peace Prize. At 17, she became its youngest recipient.

Her writing has attracted a following since she was 11, when she began blogging for the BBC about life under the Taliban. Now she turns her writing to a book intended for readers 4- to 8-years-old in "Malala's Magic Pen" illustrated by Kerascoet (Little, Brown and Company Books for Young Readers, $17.99).

It's a profound book with a message that should be heard.

When she was a girl, she loved watching a TV show about a boy with a magic pencil.

"If he was hungry, he drew a bowl of curry, and it appeared. If he and his friends were in danger, he drew a police officer. The boy was a little hero, always protecting people who needed help.

"How I wanted a magic pencil, too!"

Truly, she has one. This book is proof.

Despite the horrors she has known, Malala keeps the book light and bright for its intended audience.

Her dreams include modest desires such as a real soccer ball so and her brothers can play and not have to resort to using an old sock stuffed with rubbish. Malala prayed for a magic pencil and then noticed kids her age sorting through the garbage and wondered why she had not seen them in her class.

Her beloved father, a teacher, explained how not everyone could go to school.

"School was my favorite place. But I had never considered myself lucky to be able to go."

Her desires for what she would do with a magic pencil grew and if she had one, she would do what true leaders of humanity want - an end to poverty and a lasting world peace. And she wrote about it and talked about it to reporters.

The assassination attempt is handled beautifully. On a lack page with white letters, she writes simply:

"My voice became so powerful that the dangerous men tried to silence me.

But they failed."

The purity of Malala's story and her elegance in telling this makes this a must for every school's library and what should become a cherished book for all. And that is just part of Malala's magic.