GLOBAL SYMBOL OF AN UNBREAKABLE SPIRIT

Malala Yousafzai is a global symbol of an “Unbreakable Spirit,” A year ago this week 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai was brutally attacked on her way home from school — shot in the head at point-blank range by the Taliban.

One year later, the shot heard round the world has given birth to a movement of change — a movement to educate girls, and the little girl from Swat Valley in Pakistan has become an international symbol of courage and hope.

“In some parts of the world, students are going to school every day. It’s their normal life,” Malala told Diane Sawyer in an exclusive interview for ABC News. “But in other parts of the world, we are starving for education … it’s like a precious gift. It’s like a diamond.” A diamond she was willing to risk her life for.

Malala was named for a famous Afghan woman warrior and when the Taliban issued an edict banning all girls from going to school, she spoke up when no one else would. She blogged about the Taliban attacks on schools for the BBC, and even appeared in a New York Times documentary, saying defiantly: “They cannot stop me. I will get my education — if it is in home, school, or anyplace.”

Even though she knew there had been threats made against her, she says she never expected the Taliban to harm a young girl. But she did rehearse in her own mind what she would do if attacked.

EDUCATION IS IMPORTANT

“It was always my desire before the attack that if a man comes … I would tell that man that education is very important,” Malala told Sawyer. “I will tell that man that I even want education for your daughter.”

“And you think that would work against a gun?” Sawyer asked. “I thought that words and books and pens are more powerful than guns,” Malala answered.

And on Oct. 9, 2012 as she and her friends were singing on the way home, playing the sides of her school bus like a drum, she never imagined that the young man who boarded the bus and asked “Who is Malala?” was an assassin sent by the Taliban to kill her.

“On the day when I was shot, all of my friends’ faces were covered, except mine,” Malala said. “It was brave, but was it wise?” Sawyer asked Malala. Malala answered: “At that time, I was not worried about myself. I wanted to live my life as I want. ”

She doesn’t remember the man pointing his Colt .45 and firing three bullets at point blank range. Bleeding heavily, unconscious, Malala was rushed to a local clinic, then to a hospital where a military surgeon saved her life by removing part of her skull as her brain began to swell. She was transported to a military hospital, and then days later airlifted to England. She calls it her “seven days of coma dreams.”

AM I DEAD OR AM I ALIVE

“At the time, I was — thinking that am I dead or am I alive?” Malala said. “If I am dead, I shall be — in a graveyard. But then I said, you are not dead. You can talk to yourself. How can you be dead? Then I said, ‘You are alive.’… just hope. One day you will wake up.”

Today, after numerous surgeries and intensive physiotherapy, Malala is attending school in Birmingham, England, and says she is “totally recovered.” She says she loves music, drama and physics — and remains extremely competitive.

“Do you know how close you came to death?” Sawyer asked. “I think death didn’t want to kill me. And God was with me,” Malala said. “And the people prayed for me… And now, I know that you must not be afraid of death. And you must move forward. You must go forward, because education and peace is very important.”

Malala’s miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. At sixteen, she has become an international symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest nominee ever for the Nobel Peace Prize.

I AM MALALA

Malala’s story just came out in a book this week entitled, “I am Malala.” It will make you believe in the power of one person’s voice to inspire change in the world.

I AM MALALA is the remarkable tale of a family uprooted by global terrorism, of the fight for girls’ education, of a father who, himself a school owner, championed and encouraged his daughter to write and attend school, and of brave parents who have a fierce love for their daughter in a society that prizes sons.

Don’t miss a special primetime hour on Malala, “Unbreakable,” airing on “20/20,”October 11th at 10 p.m. ET.

(Excerpts were taken written by Teri Whitcraft and Muriel Pearson from ABC News via World News.)