An excellent read. It really opens your eyes to the world around us. Lots of laughs many tears and would love for a teacher like that around here for my children (England) that is! FAB!!!!! If fact have just ordered the other two related books x

this is a very good book, because it can educate everyone about the importance of the respect of other poeple with a different culture.It's also very easy to be read and contemporary.

I agree that this book was written retrospectively because I was confused by Ms. Gruwell's introduction myself. I read it more than once because I was sure I had missed something. She clearly wrote it beyond the original point she claims to have written it.

After reading only two of the first "Diary" entries I had to stop and check through the book to see who was responsible for adapting because to me the editing felt like over kill and took away from the natural flow of what were most likely compelling narrations at some point. To me it felt unnatural and contrived -- yes the stories were heart breaking, but I felt like I was getting the stories through the eyes of say a Diane Sawyer or a Lisa Ling report instead of through the eyes of the 14 old CHILDREN that had been through it.

Being a writer means finding your own voice. A big red flag went up for me when all of the entries were written in the same exact voice. The beginning entries were supposed to be private thoughts of FRESHMEN remedial students, but in no way was that reflected in the entries. You would be hard pressed to find a COLLEGE freshman these days with the vocabulary required for the entries.

Even if the student hadn't been remedial students the writing was so unbelievable! There is no way to convince me that any freshman in any academic level would chose the words and expressions to describe thier personal lives that were used in the entries. The editing did a huge disservice to the kids.

Through out the entire book, I found myself mumbling, "Yeah, right" and "What kid talks like this?" under my breath.

Of course we all picked up the book out of curiosity and admiration, but lets face it-- we also wondered about the authenticity. That is what hooks the reader from the start, draws you in and keeps you engaged. That is what shines more light on the cause.

To those of you who will figure this in bias to "inner city kids" save your breath because I was one. Also, I wanted to identify with the kids, but oddly enough, even though the subject matter is real and gritty, it feels forced and I dare say flowery. It seems they left in the four letter words for shock value, but took out the rawness, which as a reader I am much more interested in.

Although I was a little disappointed by writing style; I applaud and support the students and Ms. Gruwell and will continue to follow news about the Freedom Writer's Organization, but I must admit I was very much looking forward to settling in for an captivating read and I feel let down.

I also have a very difficult time believing that the projects the students discussed in their entries took place all in one school year let alone in one semester. You figure each class is less than an hour long there simply isn't enough time in a curriculum for it to hold true.

(Also, the movie is supposed to be an honest depiction of the book and there were entries that somewhat resembled some of the journal entries that were read aloud to narrate the movie, but the outcomes of the entries in the movie were completely different than ones in the book. So which is true the harsher stories read in the movie or the moralistic entries from the book?)

After seeing to movie and feeling moved to learn more about this group of writers, I purchased this book. As with the movie, there are some harsh realities brought to light, but it's a good read. Having grown up in a relatively easy-going community in very white America, I felt it was a good experience to see that things are not so easy for MANY kids. Now that I'm raising my own kids I feel it's important for them, also to gain a bit of perspective. This is really an important piece of literature...thanks to those who brought it to the public.

This book, the freedom writers diary, is one not to forget. Throughout the book they mention what they call the 'undeclared war', this is supposed to describe the gang violence and discrimination of Long Beach, CA. This book is wonderful and inspiring novel that will hit you emotionally. It is a definite page-turner

The novel The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them is an exceptional book detailing the extraordinary things that a teacher and her class managed to accomplish in four years of high school. The novel is a collaborative effort between a teacher, Erin Gruwell, and her 150 students. The novel takes place over a four year period, the four years of high school for these students from the fall of 1994 to the spring of 1998. The students decide to name themselves The Freedom Writers as an allusion to the Freedom Riders, a group of black and white people who rode a bus together as one from the north to the south during the civil rights movement as an act of peaceful protest.
The novel can be read and enjoyed by anyone. It was written to show that anything is possible to accomplish despite the hardships and obstacles that may be forced upon us. Furthermore, the novel aims to promote harmony and friendship among all humans no matter what their race or backgrounds. The students and Ms. Gruwell all go through highs and lows. They experience moments of greatness and moments where they feel insignificant. They all must find a way to get over this, while also dealing with scrutiny from their peers, the community around them, and even other teachers at the school.
However despite the overwhelming odds against them, these students achieve something unbelievable. The novel is broken into semesters and as a reader, we can see the progression of these students. In the first semester the students have no faith in their teacher or themselves. In the very first diary entry a student writes, "I always thought `odd' was a three-letter word; but today I found out it has seven, and they spell G-R-U-W-E-L-L. My freshman English teacher is way out there...The administrators should have known better that to giver her this class, but I guess she didn't know any better than to take it. How is she going to handle four classes full of this school's rejects?". The students dislike their teacher and they dislike her ideas that they can actually make something of themselves. They do not agree with her argument that anything is possible and that they can overcome their differences and accomplish something together.
Over the years Ms. Gruwell manages to change the student's perspectives through projects and literature. They read many selections to which they can personally relate, including Romeo & Juliet, The Diary of Anne Frank, Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo, and The Color Purple among others. Through their efforts the students are allowed to meet many other extraordinary people including Zlata, the author of Zlata's Diary, and Miep Gies, the amazing woman responsible for hiding Anne Frank and her family and also the person who discovered Anne's diary and shared it with the world. From hearing these stories the students begin to believe what Ms. Gruwell has been trying to convey to them.
Eventually the students start to connect to one another. One student writes about her friendship, "...yet I can't even go to a movie with my friend because she's white. Why does that matter any more? I thought we were in a new era and were getting over the race issue?". These students begin to question the ideas that cross-racial friendships and relationships are wrong. They don't see what the big deal is. The students even cross gender lines. While peer editing, a male student reads a diary entry about a girl who had to get an abortion and can empathize with her because his girlfriend had gotten an abortion and he saw what she went through. He even writes an encouraging note to the author telling her "I feel your pain--you're not alone!".
Following these students through their high school years we can see the amazing transformations they go through. They not only believe that they can accomplish the unbelievable, they actually do. I believe these passages, and the subsequent success of the novel, are proof of the author's validity. The original arguments made by Ms. Gruwell hold true in the end and the students accomplish remarkable things and destroy the stereotypes and restrictions that society has placed on them.
I would recommend this novel to anyone. It is great for students because it can help them through the difficult times faced in school. It is great for teachers because it shows what a teacher can accomplish if he or she does not give up and sticks to a dream. It is great for anyone else because it shares remarkable, true stories of ordinary people accomplishing the extraordinary.

I saw the movie and thought it was great. I saw that they had a book and figured that it would be interesting to read, but it wasn't. The movie was enough..

VERY VERY GOOD. AS A TEACHER, I WAS HAPPY WITH THE ABILITY OF THIS TEACHER TO TOUCH AND CHANGE LIVES IN HER CLASSROOM.

The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to

Change Themselves and the World Around Them


An examination of the humanity that exists within all of us, The Freedom Writers Diary considers the history and the factors that affect the lives of the youth in her school that were considered "basic" and even potentially dangerous at times. A truly directed and dedicated novel conceived of and compiled by one teacher, Erin Gruwell, these are the impacting and affecting true stories of those who are seen and yet remained invisible in their own lives. These collections of the human spirit are written entirely by Mrs. Gruwell and her 150 students of Wilson High School in Long Beach, California.
Having just begun her professional teaching career at Wilson, Erin Gruwell provided the diaries as the means for cultural and internal reflections amongst her students over time. Although the diary entries are numbered for anonymity sake, the division among the students because of cultural and ethnic reasons is reflected in entry # 5 which states, "Everyone, including me, eats lunch with their own kind, and that's that" (The Freedom Writers: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them, Gruwell, and Page 8). All the entries collected into this unique type of forum give the reader of sense of commonality among people who otherwise would have initially denied any such cohesiveness.
In affect, by showing the independent works, the ability to learn and relate, and understand is optimal. So this book challenges the reader to experience the views of lives that may or may not mirror their own. It also asks people to engage in the memories of poverty, violence, abuse, depression, and racism to challenge these and perhaps their own ideals of who they are and who they are labeled as being in the world. Expressed by one student in diary entry #5 is the statement, "I'm fourteen, and people think I should be scared because I'm surrounded by violence, but around here it's an everyday thing" (12).
Life as defined in the forum of diary writing asserts that beliefs about other people are a result of living, observation, and word of mouth. They categorize each member into society into racial and power groups and act accordingly upon that belief. That is to say these youth see the African American, Latina, Asian descent, and Caucasian persons who do not fit into their racial group as outsiders and typically as those they cannot meaningfully relate to in the initial stages of the diary entries. Here as we begin to understand the immense pressure of racial intolerance particularly upon the young still developing minds which can at times be easily swayed.
However; the basis for such intolerance and beliefs occur through the environment and even the inherited views of older adults such as their own fathers. Throughout the course of this book, the views slowly and appreciatively change as their experience changes.
That is as they engage others of different ethnic backgrounds, including Mrs. Gruwell, though reading, discussion and active participation, the Freedom Writers truly become free.
The various techniques used by their ingenious teacher include extraordinary field trips, guests speakers, cathartic writing of course, and pop culture which relates her students lives to those in the films, books and plays that they are able to learn about and engage in. Inspiring their minds to become involved in stories of war, such as that of their soon to be young friend Zlata Filipovic of Kosovo, their letters of admiration and invitation forge a strong friendship with a young girl of herself suffered through a war in her own nation. The creativity of their teacher is enormous, whether it was the field trips to films about troubled teens, or to the Museum of Tolerance to view films like Higher Learning, the acting out of plays such as that of Twelve Angry Men in the classroom. The ability to raise the funds for young Zlata to visit the students in Long Beach required a team effort in respect to funding and certainly ingenuity.
As the desire to read and absorb the experiences of others persists in her students, another speaker is meets with the Freedom Writers to discuss her incredible relationship with a girl named Anne Frank.


One such visitor, a Holocaust survivor named Gerda Siefer was referenced as follows: "Like Anne, she is Jewish and was born in Poland, and didn't meet Hitler's standards of purity either. She was forced to live in a basement where she could barely stand up. It amazed me how I could not only emphasize not only with Anne Frank, but also with a Holocaust survivor" (84).
By the nature of the manner in which this book is written, by multiple authors, it is clear that what are shared are the views of the individual and that of the whole. In order to fully convey the world in which they reside, the voices of each person as well as the group allow the reader to take into consideration the behavior, belief systems, nature and environmental aspects of the situations.
The purpose I think of this book compiled by the student's instructor was to give rise to the multiple and real voices of her students. It suggests that people live and see life from personal experience and in particular young developing minds are strongly affected by that in life. Further, we see from reading this book that although negative experiences can create false impressions and negative outlooks, that the power to change achieve and move forward with positivity can also be developed over time. I highly recommend this book for allowing all its authors the ability to be heard by their own pen, and for the courage to have sought out more positive solutions to very negative situations.

Freedom Writers, The, Gruwall, Erin. The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them. Vol. 1. Broadway Books, 1999






The Freedom Writers Diary : How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them

I watched the movie first (which was really good), and, as usual, the book was that much better. It's heartwarming, not the warm fuzzy type of heartwarming, but the real book about real people overcoming real situations type of heartwarming. The human spirit never ceases to amaze me, and these kids really soar. I highly, highly recommend this book.

I decided to read that book after seeing the movie. I absolutely loved it! From the begining to the end, that book tells us that life can change and those kids are incredible, they did so many things to change their life. If you like the movie, you will like the book for sure. It made me cry a lot of times!

I got this book after watching the Freedom Writters DVD. I really liked the movie, and thought the book would expand on it more. It does, but I still liked the movie best.

Interesting book, short, easy read. I also listened to it as a "book on tape", which was more interesting.

We bought the book after watching the movie with our kids, and we have found it to be an amazing work of art! Our kids found it interesting to read of the true stories and to see the pictures of the original Freedom Writers and their teacher. Definitely worth the purchase!!!

This is a great read. She was a great teacher and gives other teachers food for thought. However, I was concerned that she is being held up as a model for all the rest of us teachers. Are all teachers who aspire to be great teachers supposed to get a second job to earn money for monthly class trips? Are all great teachers expected to spend countless hours in the classroom with no time for a personal life? Yes, Erin did great things while she was a teacher, but even she could only keep it up for 4 years. Many teachers bend over backwards for students and end up burned out before 5 years. It is hard work being a teacher. It is unfair to hope that all teachers would sacrifice their own lives to be teacher,and mother/father, and friend, and nurse...

This book is one of the most fraudulent pieces of garbage I have ever seen.

First of all, like many other reviewers who are critical on this page, I have been an educator for years. Seven, to be exact. I have taught special education students and general education students, and the writing presented in this book is a joke. There is simply no way that students in a remedial class who come from a lack of proper educational preparation could write like this. If the point of this book is that the students made progress via their writing, why not show that progress? Show honestly what they wrote in the beginning of their first year with Gruwell and then how they improved. But the author doesn't do that.

People (especially educators) seem terrified to criticize Gruwell, primarily because her supporters retort with, "Well, if you don't appreciate what she did, you're clearly just jealous." This is bunk. The reason this book and movie are problematic is that they are self-serving tripe produced by a woman who couldn't even hack it in a classroom for more than four years. The argument that her reason for leaving was to "teach other teachers to do what she did" is patently ridiculous (though an extremely marketable cop-out strategy). Of course she had to quit. I myself came dangerously close to having no life outside my teaching during my first few years. Had I kept that up, could I have made greater strides with my students than I have? Definitely. I also would have burned out just as she did and would have had to stop teaching.

The reason I find this book dangerous for young teachers (and those that take her university courses) is that it presents a completely unrealistic picture of teaching learning disabled children in tough schools. I shudder to think of a teacher walking into her classroom, expecting to be greeted by the type of students (and writing) included in this book. The chances those students would be able to read the Diary of Anne Frank even if they wanted to are so slim they shouldn't even be mentioned, and I worry that any "Erin Gruwell followers" who do go into teaching will be so cripplingly discouraged by the fact that they can't mimic her results (which are, as I've said, fake) that they will quit within their first two years, making Gruwell potentially responsible for robbing the system of good teachers through her own greed.

This is one big marketing scheme for the benefit of a woman who cashed in on her students' lives. She did not, in my view, help them to anywhere near the degree that she helped herself.

This has got to be one of the most inspirational stories I've read,,the only thing is I don't know that the book would have made sense if I hadn't already seen the movie. This is one of the only times I would tell you to see the movie first!

This is a book which can open the eyes of some of us who were not raised in, essentially, dangerous circumstances. The inspiring accomplishments that one woman's generous heart and LISTENING provided for her students, and their own expressive outlet in writing, is an educator's marvel. Would that all teachers could pull for their student's lives in the way the author did.

The book is a great read. I would definitely recommend to teachers, especially those that teach or will teach a widely diversified class. Not just teachers should read it. You really get an idea how crazy being racist and prejudiced is and how many people can be hurt by it. Nothing was edited so you get the full feelings of what those teenagers lived through.

There were lots of positives and negatives that stuck out to me when I read this book which really bothered me.

Let's start with the teacher. We get occasional reflections from Erin Gruwell throughout the book, and in the beginning, they provide a way for us to get to know the teacher and to experience some of the adversity and the troubles that she was experiencing with running her classroom in the unorthodox style she managed. As the book progresses, the majority of these insights begin to fade into a simple account of what she did, the awards they won, and the plans that she had. For instance, she briefly mentions that she had to struggle to teach these kids for their senior year, and then she breezes over how she got that done and launches into an explanation of the binding of their book and the two awards ceremonies that she's attending. This robs the teachers out there of a great potential resource for them to use and understand, and glosses over the reality of politics in education.

The other issue I had was with the journal entries of the students. While I'd love to believe what I'm seeing, I have a difficult time believing that these entries the children wrote were not blown a little out of proportion during the editing or completely contrived from the get-go. Before you jump all over me for having a lack of faith in these kids, look at what we're presented with: the first few journal entries, which these kids supposedly wrote on the first few days of class are every bit as long and as detailed as their later entries in their senior year...and this is supposedly when they were well below the rest of their grade and their expected reading level, and when they had no faith in their teacher whatsoever. What we are left with, then, is a look only at where they were during their junior and senior years, with no gauge of progress or results to compare.

Because of the way the book was put together (entries are numbered rather than being entered chronologically, and no students are named), there is a lack of continuity between chapters, and no characters. Thus, all we are left with are two styles of entries: 1) the entries about struggles and hardships, and 2) the hopeful entries. You are completely unable to identify the students and connect who wrote which entries unless the stories are about a single club or experience. I would much rather have seen the students be given fake names to keep their anonymity protected, because then we not only benefit from a more personal connection to the students, but we also get to see how they've grown from their struggles, and we could break up some of the monotony between struggle stories and hope stories.

Then you get the obligatory "Anne Frank [or insert speaker here] is my hero" entries that read almost exactly like essays that I used to write for the sole purpose of appeasing a teacher who clearly has a tremendous interest in the speaker or book. While the experiences these students had were much more impressive than a simple book or movie, the similarity is astonishing, and I can't help but believe that these kids felt a lot of pressure and wrote what they felt the teacher wanted to hear rather than what they actually felt.

The entries that we are presented with in this book are also extremely toned down versions of the original, which in some sense steals from the power that they can convey. As a couple of students pointed out, the editing process was a big part of putting this book together, and I'm not sure whether it was the authors themselves or the publisher, but the snippets that we are given in the diaries are about the editing process are much more honest and graphic accounts of what happened to the students than the full diaries that we are given in the pages of the book. Some were certainly removed to protect anonymity, and probably also because of their graphic nature, but I believe that readers could have benefited from a slightly more realistic tone. The PG13 edit that the majority of these accounts are given strips the events of their power.

On the whole, though, that doesn't take away from the fact that Gruwell is clearly a very gifted teacher, and that she did take these children much farther than anyone ever expected of her. The lessons in the book are timeless, in that classroom management is all about building relationships, not only amongst students, but also between the teacher and the students. It's inspirational, and impressive, but clearly a bit contrived and heavily, heavily edited. This book is a pretty good read, but I think you have to take it with a grain of salt.

I loved reading the stories from the voices of the various students and hearing how they discovered love and hope despite their difficult home lives.

This is an excellent book for a non reader, especially if they have seen the movie. My daughter thoroughly enjoyed the book and she is not really a reader. it has now encouraged her to move on to a Diary of Anne Frank. Thank you

An extra-ordinary book. I bought 3 copies to give away to friends. A very easy read and very enjoyable. Not just for educators.

This was a really touching and easy to read collection of essays written by kids who have really difficult lives. I substitute teach and read it to one class. They found it fascinating. A good disussion starter.

Very hard to imagine at times but worth reading. Today's teens and their thoughts in a book. Recommend The Diary of Anne Frank

I was inspired to get this book after watching the movie. It tells what really happened plus more... definately a page turner!

What a truly inspiring story taken from students disry entries. Found it very useful to have seen the movie first (can be rented at Blockbusters)as it gave a better foundation for reading the book.

To hear what these kids went through and how their teacher opened their mind to new worlds is just amazing. Be prepared to get caught up in their stories. Sometimes it's hard to breathe because there's a big lump in your throat or you can't read because your eyes have welled up, but putting the book down is not an option. Brings more insight to the Freedom Writers movie.

Thanks to Jessica for loaning me this book two years ago as I was starting my teaching career. Since starting my graduate program in education four years ago, it has been hard for me to find people who are as dedicated to K-12 teaching as I am, and I've certainly found one in Erin Gruwell. I have found my third major hero in education - after Jonathan Kozol and Nanci Atwell.
Erin's book, The Freedom Writers, has inspired me to continue striving to help those students who do not come from the "right side of the tracks." She has shown me that, with a caring teacher, it is entirely possible for underprivileged kids to go to college and to want to make a difference. Last weekend, before I read this book, I found myself exclaiming to my mom over the phone that "nothing can be done to help these kids; nothing will change." Perhaps when I was at my most hopeless during these past four years, I have found some salvation from Ms. Gruwell.
Gruwell's book is really a collection of 142 diary entries from herself and many of her students over her four years at Wilson High School in racially diverse, economically-challenged Long Beach, CA. The entries are organized chronologically, starting with her "Freshman Year", her first year of teaching, and ending at the end of her "Senior Year", her fourth and final year of teaching at Wilson High School. I am particularly envious of her because she was able to work with many of the same students throughout her (and their) four years at the high school. As she shows that it is, I have to imagine that it is a tremendous net positive for kids from needy backgrounds to have the same caring teacher for multiple years. Many of these students come from backgrounds where they have learned that they can't trust anyone, so when they finally find an adult who they start to develop some trust with, it would be particularly powerful for the relationship to continue. Also, if her students continued to change (as they do for most teachers), he depth of classroom discussion and classroom trust wouldn't have been the same either.
With 50% or so of our cities' high schoolers not graduating, something obviously must be done. There are many efforts in place around the country to improve this rate. Besides keeping the same students from year-to-year, what are some of the other things that we can learn from Gruwell? She is not afraid of working before or after school to attend to these students' special needs. I welled up many times during this book as things were said such as ""when I met Ms. Gruwell, I was in absolute awe," " I thank G-d that He sent an angel to give me that chance to change, "they're more than a class, they're a family," "my mom says I hit the lottery in education", "Gruwell's List," "guardian angel," "with such a loving extended family, I got the strength," and on and on.
Gruwell was able to find literature that spoke to her students, from Anne Frank to Zlata Filipovic, to Countee Cullen, to Alice Walker, Dylan Thomas, George Orwell, J.D. Salinger, MLK, and many other authors. She was also able to train her students to use diaries (as did Frank and Filipovic) to speak with when they rarely had other people with whom they could dialogue about their struggles. Of course she also shows the power of writing through this exercise. Their writing is impressively advanced (and I wonder how much adult editing went into this, hoping of course that there was none).
What of her approaches could I realistically apply to my teaching? I can realistically get kids writing and talking as well as create a dialogue with their families. I also would like to venture into field trips, though not my first year at my new school (at least not my first semester). However, the kids' diaries broach many issues I don't think middle schoolers (or even me) are quite equipped to deal with in such a way (homelessness, death, rape, racism, abortion, aids, sexual preference, abuse, sex, gang violence, cancer, drugs, etc. [Incidentally, this is the first time I've read first-hand accounts of many of these issues]). From what I've seen in urban public middle schools in my nascent career, "good teachers" are not ones that necessarily inspire, but those who keep order. Maybe that's how it should be as these adolescents yearn for structure. I love Gruwell's "toast for change" assignment, but probably through my class, my students won't be ready for the major changes broached (reporting an abusive uncle, getting off drugs), though I can certainly envision small-scale change (doing homework, brushing teeth).
What Gruwell seems to do best is give kids hope; that if they do try, they can actually reap life's rewards. So many of them have been told (both explicitly and not) that they won't amount to anything. There are so few positive role models. Gruwell is such a role model, but she also finds college students, adults in the community, and those in literature who fulfill this role. I can do this.
The book doesn't provide a complete picture of the student experiences. I'd like to know (and again hope) that what I've read in this book is indeed representative. But it's hard to argue against the fact that all of her students went to college, a statistical impossibility. Neither does the book provide Gruwell's lesson plans, just snippets. How much writing did the kids do (and how much did she critique)? Reading? Grammar? As soon as I finish this entry, I'm going to research more into this woman! Perhaps it's more than a coincidence that her classroom number and my first classroom number (203) were the same (no, but don't you love delusions of grandeur)?

Does anybody else have anything out there for me to read, perhaps specifically geared to the kinds of Hispanic students I'll have this year?
(P.S. Thank goodness for summers.)
(P.P.S. Sorry for dripping coffee on your book, Jessica, I'll get you a new one.)
(P.P.P.S. I suppose I'll try to see the movie next)
(P.P.P.S. I'm off to a new teacher potluck put on by some caring faculty members at my new school.)

I am so glad I bought this book. It is a very good read and I highly recommend it. I watched the movie, and then bought the book the next day! I finished reading it in a week-which is pretty good because I have been pretty busy lately. The story is truly inspirational and heart-warming. Gotta love a true story that almost seems like it has to be fiction! :)

This inspirational book is a must read for teenagers, parents, teachers, and just folks. If i could, i'd buy a copy for everyone i know. In their own voices and in beautifully crafted prose, teenagers tell stories of their daily lives: the physical and emotional war zones they inhabit become real to the reader. With the help of an inspirational teacher, these students read other teenagers' stories and learn to see thier lives in historical context. They read diaries by two girls their own age: Anne Frank, who died in the Holocaust, and Zlata Filipovic, who lived through the war in Sarajevo. This is education with a capital E. Erin Gruwell empowers these young people to transform their realities through the power of the word. The spirit of Anne Frank and the original Freedom Riders lives on in these young heros from Long Beach.

We hear constantly how people are victims. This story shows that, despite one's circumstances in life, it is not what happens to us that matters but how we respond to life that matters. I was particularly inspired by how Erin Gruwell gave her students hope and compassion. Leaders everywhere should appreciate that loving people, though often very difficult, produces extraordinary results.

This is an awesome read! Very informative! I never knew that teachers could be so mean to students. This book opens your eyes to the kinds of close minded people there are in this world.!

This book is wonderful. It shows that students are capable of learning and being successful--no matter their race or socioeconomic status. I liked how this book was written in diary format. The editors didn't censor too much because the material is raw, but real. Many of these students had to overcome some huge obstacles in order to graduate from high school. Many people take high school graduation for granted. These kids were literally fighting for their lives. In education, many teachers and administrators don't realize what students have to deal with outside of school. Many times, these outside problems have to be addressed before students can begin the learning process. We must be mindful of this. I think everyone should read this book--not just someone in education. Anyone who takes the teaching profession for granted should definitely read this book.

I myself am into real life stories, well at least I am now after reading this book! What I like about it, it's nit just something made up, its something that people really meant to be heard. And events and article's that really did happen in these teens lives. The main fact, its a true, captivating story recommended to everyone with a high interest in real life stories.

This book is a must read for anyone. Being able to know the thoughts of all these students and also Erin, the teacher, helps you understand the dynamics of the class. It will also give you a new perspective on bias and prejudice and how self-destructive those qualities are. Great book. I couldn't put it down and read it in all my spare time within two days.

This book was so good that it was addictive. There were plenty of touching diary entries, which further inspires me to devour plenty more books that have a social conscience.

It was great that there were 150 Freedom Writers, but in this book they're all anonymous and although we get to see a 'snaphot' of each young person's life, the reader is often left wondering 'What happened to this person next? Were they okay? How did they feel about the events that transpired later on?'

This is another example of how those of us considered a lost cause can always find hope and life - it just takes some care, attention and encouragement - some kind words and a bit of a push. Hurrah for teachers who care, they can help change the world

Once in a while you come across a book that can touch you by allowing you to connect to the experience of other people. Individuals who might be removed from your everyday life. Yet whose story allows you to understand their own personal struggle told in their own voice. Often books will describe the problems inner city youth face but rarely are they given a voice to tell their own story. This is a very inspiring book that is worth reading on many levels!

Also try:

On the Move
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Wartime SarajevoRevised Edition
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
Nexus: A Neo Novel

Raw, powerful, descriptive. In language used in daily life, teenagers describe their fight to overcome the ghetto life, to become better than those mired around them. It's not all honey and roses, but through the efforts of the teacher and the students, success can be measured. A good story told by those that lived it. It will bring tears, frustration, and some feeling of hope that tomorrow can be better.

Should be read by all high school students!

I purchased the book just prior to the movie appearing in theaters. The book was well-written, although the style used to shield the teenage authors did lend a feel of "fiction" to the manuscript. As a teacher, I recognized much of what happened to Ms. Gruwell in her first years of teaching. The book is really not much different from books written by Esme Codell, Leslie Baldacci or LouAnne Johnson. The teacher goes to a school that isn't the best, and performs a miracle. The teacher isn't well-liked by the other staff in the building, but they make it through.
These are all great and inspiring; I've been reading books like this since before I became a teacher. So, if we recognize that what the authors of these books are doing is good teaching, why don't we encourage more teachers to be like this?

I've over twenty years in the high school classroom and have never had students, following our daily readings, return to my room to "check out" this book to read that evening then return them the following morning (since I only purchased a class set)....Unassigned Homework!...They read this 'cause the identify with so many of the stories...A great book? No...but since kids seldom read the great ones, this one serves quite well...Its acknowledgement of Anne Frank, The Color Purple, and Catcher in the Rye (among other valuable classic reads) does encourage some kids to seek other fine books...

Take a group of poorly motivated teenagers, place them in a school system that has long held them in contempt, mix in a high-energy, new teacher and sprinkle liberally with innovative, thought provoking teaching techniques - the result is The Freedom Writers Diary. This compendium of thoughts, fears, frustrations and dread - spelled out in gut-wrenching clarity through the actual words of Long Beach California teenagers, most of whom have lived (and some died) outside the mainstram of secondary education, is truly an inspiring work. Kudos to the teacher who bravely went where far more "experienced" educators feared to tread. This book is riveting - a "must read" for anyone who has ever attempted to motivate students who ethnicity, race and socio-economic status has placed them in harm's way. Don't miss this one - you'll want to read it in one sitting.

Inspiring.........Challanging.......Uplifting.......Informational, marginally. Easy to read, addictive to the end, and thought provoking on what a teacher can do in his/her classroom to make a difference.

Was it a how-to or instructional manual? No. Very good book that intrigued my imagination on what I can do as a teacher to improve content area literacy.

My students had read an abridged version of the story, then we saw the movie. I decided to get three copies of the book to have at school. I read it and found myself with clenched teeth over some of the trials and tribulations these kids went thru...and I teach a similar population. I took a break from the book and then went back to finish. If you've seen the movie, the book has much, much more. After reading the book, I was reaffirmed as a teacher. More people should read it, dump sports stars, singers, actors, hotel heiresses as their role models and put people like Erin Gruwell on a higher pedestal. These are the role models our students need to follow.

Next year, I think I'll read individual diary entries to my students for encouragement.

As an avid reader I loved this book. This teacher should be the epitomy of every teacheer in today's society. This book should be mandatory reading for all H.S. students, the method to help her kids learn how to read and enjoy it not only taught them the importance of reading but also the importance of liking oneself and others. More teacheers should practice this method of teaching!

Are you against racism, discriminations, violence or because your color is different you should be traded defiantly. The way you talk

Freedom Writers, tells the tale of a high school class who, by learning about World War II, broke a cycle of violence and failure in their inner city. It shows how one teacher transcended deep rooted prejudice and a struggling education system with reading, writing, energy and genuine faith in her students. Picture an anonymous segment of 90s American urban sprawl. High school kids bus in from surrounding ghettos where many expect to die in gang-related conflict before graduation. But something very unusual happens; a new teacher inspires them to take pleasure in learning, and in living. She does this by introducing them to history and the joy of reading not just the mechanics of it, which is a struggle for some, but also the art of writing and the intense impact of creatively expressing their experiences, and their soul. Today, Ms Gruwell kids are in college and have jobs they had never dared to dream about. They have published a book, traveled the world and brought members of Congress to tears and a standing ovation. Their journey from despair to hope lies at the heart of this personal and national drama and is the central theme of our movie.

My favorite part was watching the film and when one student went to his mom and tells her how sorry he was for the entire thing he did. I watched the film first then I read the book so that's why I understood this book very well.

The true story behind The Freedom Writers Diary began in the fall of 1994, at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California, when an idealistic twenty three year old high school teacher, Erin Gruwell, faced her first group of high risk teenagers. These teens, a diverse mix of students from some of the roughest neighborhoods in Long Beach, soon made it apparent to the young teacher that they were not interested in learning a lot of facts that wouldn't help them survive their own life situations. Fortunately however for all concerned, a monumental event occurred when Ms Gruwell found a caricature of an Afro American student and was able to turn the situation into a character building session comparing the found picture which those caricatures drawn of the Jews during the Holocaust. As the session progressed, many of the students began to reveal their personal anger and prejudices, as well as, their own tales of abuse including the battle scars that they had received in their own war of survival.

When I was reading this book I felt a connection to some of the characters stories. I really like this book because I like dramas, and how I can image what's going on the book. The people that should read this read are the non- fiction readers.

An excellent book that captures the least used teaching strategy. Teach the way students learn; not the way most teachers teach. Design relevancy into learning.

This is a very good book. I personally think it should be viewed in schools to show kids they do mean something to someone out there. To inspire them to do their very best. I think teachers all over the world should read this book, and/or see the movie. Just goes to show we must not judge anyone, all can go far in life, just in many different ways.

Freedom Writers Diary is a book composed by Ms. Erin Gruwell and the many students who became part of her extended family during her first four years teaching at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California. The high school students' lives were forever changed by the teaching practices of this young, unorthodox teacher and this book offers a glimpse inside some of the many interesting and surprising entries written by the students themselves in their daily journals.

This book is a collection of 142 diary entries taken from the students and the candidness of these young people will shock some readers. Students share their most private thoughts, and they include daily encounters with physical violence; frequent engagements with guns and gunfire; everyday encounters with dysfunctional family members; and constant reminders of their own problems and those of the world immediately around them. Some of the entries sound like they were taken straight from the dialogue of a violent movie. Others sound like they came from the transcript of a busy social worker. They students generally write with a certain feeling of dread and despair. They cannot believe that anything positive will ever come from their lives and they don't believe that anything will ever get them away from their neighborhoods and away from the suffocating lifestyle that they have known since birth.

But as you read the diary entries, you will slowly notice a change in attitude. It starts out slowly and starts to grow. The pessimistic thoughts and general feelings of gloom and doom are slowly replaced by a positive outlook on life. The entries in this book are in chronological order so that the reader can clearly witness the changes as they take place. There are no names (except for a few exceptions), but in some instances you can tell by the stories which entries were written by the same people based on their content. The transformation of the students is encouraging, and they have Erin Gruwell to thank for the change in attitude that convinces these once hopeless underachievers to realize that they really are capable of great things.

One surprising quality of the entries in this book is the writing itself. It isn't perfect, but it is far better than many readers will imagine. I noticed this right away and I wondered how the students were able to learn to write so effectively in so little time. Then, I discovered why: Erin Gruwell wasn't content to let her students write sloppy, grammatically incorrect diary entries. She insisted that they take time to edit what they wrote each day. Only after close scrutiny with an editor's pen did their ordinary prose become good enough for inclusion in this book. This was a smart- not to mention educational- move by Ms. Gruwell. Not only did it make the entries more readable for publication in a book, it also taught the students how to proofread and make corrections so that their written material would be more presentable.

Overall, The Freedom Writers Diary is a very interesting, very realistic book written by a determined teacher and the 150 students whose lives she helped change for the better. The brutal honesty will shock, enrage, and sadden many readers. But the personal growth of these youngsters as they move from grade to grade and slowly mature into happier, more confident youth is both uplifting and inspiring. It shows the power that one person can have on the lives of others and it's a book worth reading for both educators and others who like books with fresh ideas and positive messages.

My husband loved this book. It's sad and graphic...not meant for children, but very moving and eye opening.