I Am Malala: Part Four–Epilogue

by Malala Yousafzai
An ordinary Pakistani girl is shot by the Taliban while fighting for her right to an education. Co-written with Patricia McCormick, in this memoir, Malala Yousafzai, the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, tells her story.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Prologue–Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four–Epilogue
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. wretched
    very unhappy; full of misery
    I looked at my father’s wretched face, and I knew that he would honor my wishes no matter what I decided.
  2. gala
    a lavish public entertainment or celebration
    I saw so many children suffering still — why should I be enjoying galas and ceremonies?
  3. stench
    a distinctive odor that is offensively unpleasant
    The air was thick with the familiar smell of diesel, bread, and kebab mixed with the stench from the nearby stream, where everyone dumped trash.
  4. chaplain
    a member of the clergy ministering to some institution
    She told me that her name was Rehanah and that she was the Muslim chaplain. She began to pray in Urdu.
  5. excruciating
    extremely painful
    Meanwhile, the bright lights in my room were excruciating, like hot white daggers to my eyes, especially my poor left eye, which wouldn’t close.
  6. grimace
    contort the face to indicate a certain mental state
    Dr. Fiona grimaced slightly.
  7. fracture
    break, as a bone
    When the bullet hit my temple, it fractured the bone, sending splinters of bone into the lining of my brain.
  8. ordeal
    a severe or trying experience
    Suddenly I saw that they had some gray hairs and wrinkles. Had they always had them? Or had this ordeal aged them somehow?
  9. brink
    the limit beyond which something happens or changes
    He had never doubted the rightness of our cause — but that cause had taken his daughter to the brink of death.
    Literally, a brink is "the edge of a steep place" or "a region marking a boundary." But the example sentence uses the noun in a figurative phrase to describe the dangerous condition between life and death. Ironically, because her life was on the brink, in order to save her, the doctors had to push her closer to death with a medically induced coma so that they could fly her to a better-equipped hospital on the other side of the world.
  10. transpire
    come about, happen, or occur
    And yet, as my parents told me everything that had transpired while I was in a coma or in my windowless hospital room, it was almost as if they were telling me a story about someone else. It felt as if these things had happened to some other girl, not me.
  11. devour
    enjoy avidly
    I was finally able to read again and devoured The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a book given to me by the former prime minister of the United Kingdom, Gordon Brown.
    The Latin "vorare" means "to swallow" and another definition of "devour" is "eat greedily." But the example sentence's use of the verb shows that Malala is more of a voracious reader than eater. It supports one of the first images in the memoir, in which she leaves her breakfast half-eaten to rush off to school.
  12. flinch
    draw back, as with fear or pain
    Sometimes on those early outings, when I saw a man come toward me, I would flinch. If I let my imagination go wild, I could picture every man on the street hiding a gun, waiting to attack.
  13. ironic
    displaying incongruity between what is expected and what is
    I was falling behind at school! How ironic. The girl who campaigned for girls’ education had lost the top spot in her class.
  14. perplexed
    full of difficulty or confusion or bewilderment
    My mother, who cannot speak English like the rest of us, wanders perplexed through the shops, inspecting the strange foods for sale.
  15. humanitarian
    marked by devotion to popular welfare
    I am making books, documentaries, and speeches, and I am meeting interesting people, doing social media campaigns, and engaging in humanitarian work.
Created on 七月 23, 2015 (updated 六月 13, 2025)

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