We Are Displaced

My Journey and Stories from Refugee Girls Around the World

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By Malala Yousafzai

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$11.99

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$15.99 CAD

Nobel Peace Prize winner and New York Times bestselling author Malala Yousafzai turns the faceless statistics and endless news stories about displacement into real people—introducing a small fraction of the millions worldwide who have fled home in this powerful and “stirring” (New York Times) account. 

After her father was murdered, María escaped in the middle of the night with her mother.

Zaynab was out of school for two years as she fled war before landing in America. Her sister, Sabreen, survived a harrowing journey to Italy.

Ajida escaped horrific violence, but then found herself battling the elements to keep her family safe.

Malala’s experiences visiting refugee camps caused her to reconsider her own displacement—first as an Internally Displaced Person when she was a young child in Pakistan, and then as an international activist who could travel anywhere in the world except to the home she loved. In We Are Displaced, Malala not only explores her own story, but she also shares the personal stories of some of the incredible girls she has met on her journeys—girls who have lost their community, relatives, and often the only world they’ve ever known. 

In a time of immigration crises, war, and border conflicts, We Are Displaced is an important reminder from one of the world’s most prominent activists that every single one of the 68.5 million currently displaced is a person—often a young person—with hopes and dreams.

“A stirring and timely book.” —New York Times

  • 6 Best Books for Teens of 2019, Parents magazine
    School Library Journal Best Books of 2019
    ALA Notable Books for Children 2019
    ALA
    Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers 2019
  • Nobel Peace Prize winner Yousafzai, who famously survived being shot by Taliban soldiers as a teen in 2012, is a passionate activist for girls' right to education. Yet, in this profound volume, she sidesteps those aspects of her life to illuminate another experience: displacement - beginning with her family's forced 2009 evacuation of their Pakistani hometown in response to escalating Taliban violence. Comprising the bulk of the book are urgent, articulate first-person stories from displaced or refugee young women whom Yousafzai has encountered in her travels, whose birthplaces include Colombia, Guatemala, Syria and Yemen. ... The contributors' strength, resilience, and hope in the face of trauma is astounding, and their stories' underlying message about the heartbreaking loss of their former lives and homelands (and the resulting "tangle of emotions that comes with leaving behind everything you know") is profoundly moving.
    Publishers Weekly
  • "A stirring and timely book that strips the political baggage from the words 'migrant' and 'refugee,' telling the deeply personal stories of displacement and disruption that were lived by Yousafzai and nine other girls. ... [In] all these accounts, hope emerges as a kind of belligerent reaction to pain and loss."
    The New York Times Book Review
  • "While geared to mature middle and high school level listeners, this is an audiobook that could be listened to and discussed in a guided family or school setting. Anyone who wants to learn more about immigration and refugees will benefit from this telling."
    School Library Journal, review of audiobook edition

On Sale
Mar 2, 2021
Page Count
224 pages
ISBN-13
9780316523653

About the Author

NOVL - Headshot photo of Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai, the educational campaigner from Swat Valley, Pakistan, came to public attention by writing for BBC Urdu about life under the Taliban. Using the pen name Gul Makai, she often spoke about her family’s fight for girls’ education in her community. In October 2012, Malala was targeted by the Taliban and shot in the head as she was returning from school on a bus. She miraculously survived and has continued her campaign for education. In recognition of her courage and advocacy, Malala was honored with the National Youth Peace Prize in Pakistan in 2011 and won both the International Children’s Peace Prize and the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award in 2013. She is the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and was named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. Malala continues to champion universal access to education through Malala Fund.

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#WeAreDisplaced

Malala Yousafzai

About the Author

Malala Yousafzai is a cofounder and board member of Malala Fund. Malala began her campaign for education at age eleven, when she anonymously blogged for BBC Urdu about life under the Taliban in Pakistan's Swat Valley. Inspired by her father's activism, Malala soon began advocating publicly for girls' education, attracting international media attention and awards. At age fifteen, she was attacked by the Taliban for speaking out. Malala recovered in the United Kingdom and continued her fight for girls. In 2013, she founded Malala Fund with her father, Ziauddin. A year later, Malala received the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her efforts to see every girl complete twelve years of free, safe, and quality education. She is a graduate of Oxford University, with a degree in philosophy, politics, and economics. Malala's books include I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Educationand Changed the World, We Are Displaced, and Malala's Magic Pencil

Mariam Quraishi is an illustrator and designer based in New York City. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, she works in watercolor and gouache. When she’s not thinking about books you can find her day dreaming about the flowers from her hometown in Karachi, Pakistan  and tending to her many orchid plants. Mariam is also the illustrator of the picture book ONE WISH: Fatima Al-Fihri and the World’s Oldest University. You can visit her online at mariamquraishi.com. 

 

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