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The Freedom Writers Diary

4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 · rating details · 5,986 ratings · 940 reviews

Straight from the front line of urban America, the inspiring story of one fiercely determined teacher and her remarkable students.

As an idealistic twenty-three-year-old English teacher at Wilson High School in Long beach, California, Erin Gruwell confronted a room of “unteachable, at-risk” students. One day she intercepted a note with an ugly racial caricature, and angrily...more Straight from the front line of urban America, the inspiring story of one fiercely determined teacher and her remarkable students.

As an idealistic twenty-three-year-old English teacher at Wilson High School in Long beach, California, Erin Gruwell confronted a room of “unteachable, at-risk” students. One day she intercepted a note with an ugly racial caricature, and angrily declared that this was precisely the sort of thing that led to the Holocaust—only to be met by uncomprehending looks. So she and her students, using the treasured books Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo as their guides, undertook a life-changing, eye-opening, spirit-raising odyssey against intolerance and misunderstanding. They learned to see the parallels in these books to their own lives, recording their thoughts and feelings in diaries and dubbing themselves the “Freedom Writers” in homage to the civil rights activists “The Freedom Riders.”

With funds raised by a “Read-a-thon for Tolerance,” they arranged for Miep Gies, the courageous Dutch woman who sheltered the Frank family, to visit them in California, where she declared that Erin Gruwell’s students were “the real heroes.” Their efforts have paid off spectacularly, both in terms of recognition—appearances on “Prime Time Live” and “All Things Considered,” coverage in People magazine, a meeting with U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley—and educationally. All 150 Freedom Writers have graduated from high school and are now attending college.

With powerful entries from the students’ own diaries and a narrative text by Erin Gruwell, The Freedom Writers Diary is an uplifting, unforgettable example of how hard work, courage, and the spirit of determination changed the lives of a teacher and her students.

The authors’ proceeds from this book will be donated to The Tolerance Education Foundation, an organization set up to pay for the Freedom Writers’ college tuition. Erin Gruwell is now a visiting professor at California State University, Long Beach, where some of her students are Freedom Writers.(less)

Paperback, 280 pages

Published October 12th 1999 by Broadway (first published October 1st 1999)

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Jul 18, 2011 Rhonda rated it 1 of 5 stars

Erin Gruwell was a first-year high school teacher. She was teaching tough kids in Long Beach, CA. Her students are the lowest at the school so she begins with diaries written by others to have them create diaries of their own. She was able to stay with these students for all four years of high school. The she decided to teach college to new teachers.

I teach. I teach well. An yet I find myself discouraged when I read books like this. Not because of the state of education or students in America. I...more

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Feb 17, 2009 Black Elephants rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

The only reason I picked up this book was because it happened to be lying around the house, and I needed something to read. I'd heard of the movie with Hillary Swank and intended (and still do) to stay away from it as I believed it was another "Gangsta's Paradise" cliche: white teacher, colored students, they all dance and learn. When I picked up the book, I thought it would provide a few anecdotes of interest before I returned it to its pile on the floor where it would disappear under weightier...more The only reason I picked up this book was because it happened to be lying around the house, and I needed something to read. I'd heard of the movie with Hillary Swank and intended (and still do) to stay away from it as I believed it was another "Gangsta's Paradise" cliche: white teacher, colored students, they all dance and learn. When I picked up the book, I thought it would provide a few anecdotes of interest before I returned it to its pile on the floor where it would disappear under weightier matters.

Three hours later, past midnight nearing 1 a.m., I finished the diary.

As proclaimed by the authors, the diary is a continuation of the message and work carried on by other famous diarists: Anne Frank and Zlata Filipovic, in particular. Each entry is numbered to anonymize the individual author and universalize the collective experience of the students. "Chapters" are school semesters, and what was amazing to me was that the diary was a story. It followed the students' journey from being underdog academics to accepting awards in NY, teaching graduate classes and going off to college. What was also interesting was how the later entries started to reflect what the students had learned. There were references to Dylan Thomas, Holden Caulfield and, of course, Anne and Zlata all made as nonchalantly as a gangster sign. It's also amazing to see how the teacher Erin Gruwell got caught up in the momentum of her class's enthusiasm. For instance, a generic letter assignment to write a letter to Zlata turned into the class's full-fledged attempt to invite the Bosnian diarist to come visit them in Long Beach— and it works! In Gruwell's process to find Zlata and not fail her students, she befriends Holocaust survivors like Miep Gies, the woman who helped hide Anne Frank, as well as Zlata and her family and other important figures of tolerance.

The movie I expect is preachy, but the book is not at all. The Freedom Writers tell it as it is and never tack a moral on the end. It is, instead, their attempt to prove the written word has more power over a gun in hand, and in my case, I am a believer in that cliche 100%.

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May 10, 2008 Anne rated it 3 of 5 stars

I work in an inner city school. This doesn't quite touch on the way inner city schools really are. For instance, all the kids' writing is in standard English. My kids, when expressing how they really feel, use what I call Urban English. I just couldn't hear my kids in this book. I related a bit to the teacher's writing. But there are a lot of realities that were not portrayed in this book. For instance, the teacher had her own room --- the same room --- for the 4 years she taught. The reality of...more

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Jun 21, 2007 Valdir Delgado rated it 5 of 5 stars

Freedom Writers by Erin Gruwell is one of the most interesting books I've ever read.It is about how one teacher(Erin Gruwell) makes it her goal to change the way students in her class view the world.The students in her class view the world as one big war zone and have their own goal which is to be able to survive the streets without being killed.Mrs.Gruwell takes it up on herself to show the kids the theirs more to life then gang violence trying to do so she risks losing her job and husband.She...more

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Aug 04, 2008 Jean rated it 3 of 5 stars

I had to read this after having seen an essay in Newsweek. We former teachers always want to to hear those great success stories and this is certainly one of them! My only wish is that the rest of the wonderfully creative and committed teachers out there were recognized like this one...the book itself was good. I found it a bit redundant. Worthwhile but I think you'll skip ahead after awhile. I don't want to take anything away from it...buy it, read it, pass it on, support them, give every hardw...more

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Nov 20, 2011 Jessica Baccari rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Freedom Writers Diary is an amazing, moving, and inspirational piece of art. It consists of a collection of diary entries written by the 150 Freedom Writers and their English teacher, Ms. Gurwell. All of these Freedom Writers are students at Wilson High School in Long Beach California, where they have been placed in a below average English class with Ms. Gurwell as their teacher. This is Ms.Gurwell's first teaching experience, and it will have a lasting impact on her. One of the first assig...more The Freedom Writers Diary is an amazing, moving, and inspirational piece of art. It consists of a collection of diary entries written by the 150 Freedom Writers and their English teacher, Ms. Gurwell. All of these Freedom Writers are students at Wilson High School in Long Beach California, where they have been placed in a below average English class with Ms. Gurwell as their teacher. This is Ms.Gurwell's first teaching experience, and it will have a lasting impact on her. One of the first assignments she gives is for everyone to keep a journal, no one knew just how powerful these journals were to become, not even Ms. Gurwell. Through out these entries you will learn about the hard lives of these incredible individuals, their amazing English teacher, and their journeys towards changing the world and becoming a second family.

When you thick of Long Beach the things that come to your mind are probably beautiful beaches, expensive boutiques, and magnificent mansions. However for the Freedom Writes they saw something much different. They saw a hostel environment filled with corruption, hate, and discrimination. There were multiple gangs, each of different races, causing riots in the streets. It was dangerous for some of these student to just walk home from the bus stop, let alone go out at night. Many of these students lost their innocence at a very young age, never having the opportunity to be a kid. In their journal entries they describe to you first hand the horrors they faced including: gang violence, shootings, the murder/loss of loved ones and friends, the effects of drugs and alcohol, abusive relationships, molesters, and rapes. They felt as though they were at a dead end with no way to turn around, until they met Ms. Gurwell. She couldn't believe the way they viewed their life and refused to accept it. In an attempt to change the way they though about themselves and each other, she decided to change her lesson plan to studying the Holocaust, hoping to teach them about tolerance.

Ms. Gurwell provided everyone in the class with a copy of Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl to jump start into her lesson of tolerance. At first the students were reluctant to learn, but eventually started to read the book. They were shocked by how well they could relate to Anne. They said they too felt as if they were living trough a war but an "undeclared war". Many of the students wanted to continue learning about the Holocaust and even wrote letters to Meip (the woman who protected Anne and her family during the war) , who would later become a close friend of theirs'. Ms. Gurwell was shocked by their response and continued on, having them read Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo. The students connected once again with the author of this incredible true story, so Ms. Gurwell had them also write letters to Zlata, who had survived her
war. She challenged them in their letters to invite Zlata to Wilson, and the unthinkable happened. She came.

Ms. Gurwell went on to have her core group of students for all four years they were at Wilson, and continued to receive more kids as the years went on. Everyone wanted to be in her class because it was the one place people said they felt wanted, needed, and safe. They would become a family, and together have a lasting impact on the world around them. As their final project Ms. Gurwell had them compile their journals, which they had been keeping for four year, into a book of their own. She would even get 35 computers donated to them from John Tu, to help aid them in their process. While writing this book they would officially gain their name The Freedom Writers based off of The Freedom Riders, who were a group of American and African American student who rode on a bus through the South to protest against discrimination. Their book would also lead them into incredible journeys such as a trip to Washington DC, where they hand delivered their book to the secretary of education Riley, and going to New York City to accept the spirit of Anne Frank award. ( It was the first time this award was given to a group of people and not an individual.) The Freedom Writers had done the impossible, they had gone from a group of kids in a below average English class to published author, advocates for change, and people who believed in their bright future ahead of them.

This book is by far one of the best books I have ever read. It truly opens up your eyes to the world around you, grabbing your attention and refusing to let go. I, even someone 16 years younger then the average student in this book, was able to easily relate to their stories. It was also genuinely inspirational. I always knew I wanted to change the world, but now after reading about the Freedom Writers I know I can. I also was inspired by Ms. Gurwell, I though I wanted to become a teacher but now regardless of where I end up in life I know I want to do something involving the empowerment of the youth, because they are the future of tomorrow.
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Apr 03, 2011 Athira (Reading on a Rainy Day) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, nonfiction, cat-youth-audience, nf-bios-memoir

I first heard of this book in Sheila's blog when she reviewed this during the Banned Books week last year. At that point, I wasn't too keen on reading the book, but when I saw the movie pop up in my Netflix recommendations list, I decided to check it out. I didn't have too many expectations from it, but by the end of the movie, I loved it. Who doesn't love a rebel? And I mean a good rebel -- someone who succeeds in something when everyone else expected him/her to fail. The movie was everything a...more I first heard of this book in Sheila's blog when she reviewed this during the Banned Books week last year. At that point, I wasn't too keen on reading the book, but when I saw the movie pop up in my Netflix recommendations list, I decided to check it out. I didn't have too many expectations from it, but by the end of the movie, I loved it. Who doesn't love a rebel? And I mean a good rebel -- someone who succeeds in something when everyone else expected him/her to fail. The movie was everything about changing your destiny, and all through my life, I've never tolerated the 'fate' and 'destiny' philosophies that anyone dished out to me. I like to believe that I'm the only person who can control my life -- of course there's the butterfly effect and then there is the case where someone else's actions can affect what happens to you, but they are usually single events, and most times, one can always decide one's reactions to such events. Would you rather wallow in depression because you are going through a life-changing mess or would you rather change the way you respond to that mess?

The Freedom Writers' Diary is the strongest proof I've seen about how you can make a difference to your life and to those around you. All the kids in Erin Gruwell's class have already been written off as failures, by other teachers, other students, and even their own parents. Worse, none of the kids could identify with Erin -- a white woman staying in a safe suburban residence, with no teaching experience and who had no idea of life in the violent gang-controlled streets of LA. Since even their previous teachers had given up on them, they gave Erin just a month before they believed she would move on.

The following 300-odd pages of this book shows so well how every single student has been transformed by Erin's teaching methods, the students' life experiences, their choices and willingness to perhaps hope that maybe they'll come through it all fine. So many stories in the book are moving. There's the student who's the sole caretaker of the family and is on the verge of eviction because he/she has to pay 800 bucks in rent and the car payment is also due. Then the girl who had a really wonderful family life at one point and within a few years, the mother left, the father remarried to a woman she and her siblings couldn't adjust to; soon they moved to an aunt's place who loved her a lot until her lover returned from the jail and the kids were back to square one -- homeless and family-less. There's the boy whose family doesn't have a home to stay in because they are so poor. There's the girl whose parents stole her stuff so that they can fund their drug addiction. There's also the girl who had to bring herself up because her mother was tired of being a mother. There's the boy whose father doesn't think his son will succeed and offers no hope or encouragement.

So many of the diary entries make you really sad, but by the end of each entry, I still smiled because the kids weren't writing with despair, they were writing with hope. They made promises to themselves and expressed their gratitude that they at least still had the Freedom Writers. Erin Gruwell and her class were a symbol of hope for all these kids. It's beautiful reading about how these kids change and how they do and wish good for others too. Their hostility is very evident in the initial diary entries, but as I read, I could vividly see the changes happening. It's also a reminder that just because a kid walks around with a gun or a knife, it doesn't mean that they are bad. It means they need help and there are no adults offering them that.

I've never had a teacher like Erin Gruwell, but then I've never been in a challenged class like Erin's. Still, every school needs someone like her -- if not to help those 'written-off' kids, then to at least empathize with the kids in their class. All kids have problems -- maybe not as tragic as the circumstances of the kids in this book, but certainly important problems that can have far-reaching consequences later on in life.

If four years ago someone would have told me that Ms. G was going to last more than a month, I would have laughed straight in their face. She wasn't supposed to make it, we weren't supposed to make it. But look at us now, the sure-to-drop-out kids are sure to reach higher education. No one would have thought of the "bad-asses" as high school graduates -- as any kind of graduates. Yet, in four years we will be college graduates. Our names will be on the alumni lists of Columbia, Princeton, Stanford, and even Harvard.

I loved both the movie and the book -- both are remarkably similar in plotline, but the book is just a bunch of numbered diary entries (you never know the identity of most kids and that lends a poignant innocent feel to the book). In the movie, there are some characters that are more central to the storyline. I loved all the actors who portrayed the students. They really got well into the skin of their characters. The movie also gives a personal look into Erin's life, which is not present in the book. As I understand it, the movie also used Erin's memoir to put together the various threads. I will recommend both the movie and the book to you -- they are both well-done. If like me, you aren't feeling motivated to read the book, you should certainly watch the movie then. I promise that you'll be checking out the book the very next day.(less)

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Feb 19, 2008 Lani rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: education, non-fiction

I was pretty disappointed by this book from the get-go. Diaries and journals are interesting because you are able to experience someone else's life in real-time. Part of that experience is being immersed in the language, personality, and emotion of the author. The students idolize Anne Frank and Zlata, but don't allow any of their own voices into their writing. Each entry sounds just like the next with only occasional sentences that feel "real" and un-edited.

Good writers capture the energy of th...more I was pretty disappointed by this book from the get-go. Diaries and journals are interesting because you are able to experience someone else's life in real-time. Part of that experience is being immersed in the language, personality, and emotion of the author. The students idolize Anne Frank and Zlata, but don't allow any of their own voices into their writing. Each entry sounds just like the next with only occasional sentences that feel "real" and un-edited.

Good writers capture the energy of their experience, and these students have seen too much to be as bland as these examples portray. The few poems recited - although not great - at least convey some emotion. It's a shame since some of these stories are extremely powerful - issues such as homelessness, child abuse, domestic violence, street violence, peer pressure... all expressed in cookie cutter language that could all be written by the same person.

I expected to see a realistic progression in the journal entries; I wanted to see improvement as these students grew as writers and people. I appreciate a variety of perspectives, but I think the book suffered from not having a consistent batch of identifiable characters that progressed over the course of four years. Anonymous entries further their cause, but detract from the impact and make it harder to "own" the characters as you read.

The book certainly got better as I read. The students certainly had some amazing opportunities, and I was proud to see them develop as people as the book progressed. Perhaps as they got better as writers over the years the later entries were less heavily edited and retained more flavor.

I really wish there had been more information about how the book was compiled and edited. Certainly she couldn't have gotten these students to write the long-winded and introspective entries at the beginning of her first semester. Without that information many of these entries feel so forced and unbelieveable that I found it difficult to read them at all. Even an afterword explaining that the pieces were elaborated on and edited before the published final draft would be helpful. I can understand the students wanting to showcase their best work, but I'd like to see more information about the process.

From an education perspective... I felt like I wasn't getting the whole story about Ms. Grunell and her resources. It's wonderful that she had the support that she did, but it is so glazed over that it seems like it should be within any teacher's grasp. That doesn't seem quite fair to many of the amazing teachers that struggle just to keep their head afloat. I know that she has another book that is more focused on her methods, and maybe that has more of what I was looking for.
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Dec 26, 2007 Rachel rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: education, waste-of-time

I will begin by stating that I did not read this entire book. I made it through 50 or 60 pages. I had not had any intent to read it, as I have heard more than enough stories about the fish out of water young white teacher who is able to "save" the inner city youth from the apparent inevitability of failure. A coworker strongly recommended the book to me and actually put it in my hand, so I decided to give it a chance.

As I read one journal entry after another, I was puzzled by the fact that ever...more I will begin by stating that I did not read this entire book. I made it through 50 or 60 pages. I had not had any intent to read it, as I have heard more than enough stories about the fish out of water young white teacher who is able to "save" the inner city youth from the apparent inevitability of failure. A coworker strongly recommended the book to me and actually put it in my hand, so I decided to give it a chance.

As I read one journal entry after another, I was puzzled by the fact that every entry of every child seemed to be written in almost the same exact voice. The vocabulary and expressions used were not what I would expect to hear from a group of high school freshmen, particularly in a group of kids that was previously underachieving and hated reading and writing. Inner city dialect was juxtaposed with difficult vocabulary and phrasing that seemed adult and dated on almost every page. I skimmed through the rest of the book to see if there was any information on how the journals were edited, or if they went through any type of writing process with them (typically a journal wouldn't go through revision) but didn't see any explanation. Maybe I was just missing something. There also was not any description of how Ms. Gruwell was able to elicit the trust of all of her students so quickly (so that they would be comfortable writing about their crimes and personal issues) and get them to write pages and pages when they had refused to do any writing before. It seemed that she was able to have them writing full entries that were eloquent and insightful within the first month or two.

I know that there is truth to these stories. I know that this is a real class and Ms. Gruwell is a real teacher. I just can't get past the belief that these diaries are not fully authentic and that these words have been reshaped somewhere along the line; how can I tell how much and by whom? Why wasn't this addressed? Perhaps if the diaries were in their original form, complete with spelling and grammar errors, it would make more sense. As it was, I just couldn't trust it. These are real kids. They have real stories. I want to hear them in their words.

I would love to hear other people's opinions on this. Did anyone else have this problem?(less)

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Lani I'm at the same point as you. I'm determined to finish the book since it isn't tough reading, but I am SO IRRITATED by the boring writing. The stories...more
Feb 14, 2008 10:13am

Ann For answers to your questions concerning the validity and editing of the diaries, read Gruwell's "Teach With Your Heart". There are times I ask myself...more
Nov 18, 2008 07:20pm

Rachel Thank you for the information about where to find out about the technical questions. As for the trust, I agree with you in some respects; however, I t...more
updated Nov 20, 2008 05:18pm

May 30, 2007 rachel added it

This is a diary compiled from 150 students in Long Beach, CA. They were almost all at-risk kids in gangs, who lived in the projects, and generally were expected to drop out of high school and not live to see 18 or be in jail. Enter the preppy very white idealistic Erin Gruwell who was a brand new teacher fresh out of college. She gets the idea to teach them about the Holocaust after a racist drawing of one student gets passed around the class. After that it picks up, and soon her students are wr...more

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May 03, 2012 Aubriel Monae added it

This is a really good book for me. I am doing a project for my reading class and this book had me hooked from the begining. I loved the part when the boy got into a shoot out. That part was very interesting. I can read and understand what the students in Ms.Gruwell's class is going through. I also really enjoy this book because i can relate to it. I dont know what else to say about the book , but I do reconmend you guys to read it.

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Jun 01, 2007 Rohann rated it 4 of 5 stars

I picked up this book from my local store when I saw the movie was releasing back in January 2007. I like to read the book before seeing the movie, so I still haven't watched Hillary Swank on the big screen with this one. It was moving and sad to read the journal entries of these students in LA and the horrors they lived through on a daily basis. We all think high school was an awful experience... try high school in LA when your raped at 15, pregnant and your uncle is a drug dealer! I like life...more

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Feb 25, 2009 Karen & Gerard rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biographies-autobiographies, teaching-coaching, teens, inspirational, survival

This book is inspirational to both teachers and students. It is written by high schoolers who were considered "losers" by the school administration of Wilson High, a racially integrated school in Long Beach, California. No one expected them to graduate. They are teens write about their problems and how being in Erin Gruwell's class made a huge difference in their lives. It is a compilation of their journal entries. At the beginning of their freshman year, none of them expected to graduate and we...more

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Jan 26, 2009 Jovan Rivera rated it 5 of 5 stars

Freedom Writers Diary a novel and movie based on real life events of one-hundred and fifty students and a woman by the name of Erin Gruwell, has opened up the eyes of many people and welcomed them into their lives. The novel includes diary entries from students that attend Wilson High School, in Long Beach, California. As a first year teacher at Wilson High School Ms.Gruwell was experiencing and seeing things she had never seen before. One day as Ms.Gruwell taught in the very diverse school she...more Freedom Writers Diary a novel and movie based on real life events of one-hundred and fifty students and a woman by the name of Erin Gruwell, has opened up the eyes of many people and welcomed them into their lives. The novel includes diary entries from students that attend Wilson High School, in Long Beach, California. As a first year teacher at Wilson High School Ms.Gruwell was experiencing and seeing things she had never seen before. One day as Ms.Gruwell taught in the very diverse school she seen a racial note that changed the way she would teach and the way her students will learn for the rest of their lives. As an English teacher Ms.Gruwell immediately connected this degrading drawing to the Holocaust. Being that this drawing was so explicit to the African-American race Ms.Gruwell explained to her high school students that, that was how the Holocaust began.

I would recommend this book to any and everyone because it’s a book you cannot put down because of how saddening the stories of these young children are. Freedom Writers Diary is a novel that doesn’t target any specific age but targets one who has an eye (everyone). This book is one that is so easy to relate yourself or the people around you. Freedom Writers Diary is not only a breath taking book it is a book that educates and increases your knowledge on the Holocaust and racism itself. This novel is an uplifting novel that will have readers at the edge of their seats and their hairs standing because of the significant amount of similarities they have with each writer. As students wrote things that inspired them and events that had taken place they probably weren’t thinking that they will teach life lessons, such as respect for one another, honesty, and dedication to working hard.
As a person that usually does not read I recommend this book to any and everyone. I believe that these students as well as Ms.Gruwell had no intentions in targeting any specific age group or sex but individuals that needed a change in life. Everyone should enjoy reading this novel because of the lessons taught and the connections made. Freedom Writers Diary is a novel that introduces actual facts in history and will be a great and interesting way to teach learners. It will eventually become a book that will be passed down from generation to generation.This very book has inspired me to become mature in life and appreciate everyone and everything that surrounds me.(less)

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Apr 28, 2013 Krista Stevens rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult, young-adult, non-fiction, education

An interesting but ultimately unrealistic story of a high school teacher in an urban school in CA who does amazing things with her students. The unrealistic parts - first, the students write diary entries - what I missed immediately were student's voices. With one or two exceptions, they could have all been written by the same student - the stories were different of course (fresh, sad, poignant, brutally honest) dealing with everything from molestation to drugs to violence - but the sentence str...more

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Mar 22, 2013 Katie Wilkie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Great book! Very sad, yet inspiring stories from all of the students. Many of their stories made me want to work harder to overcome my own personal challenges. What I love about Erin Gruwell's teaching method is that she first took a look at where her students were in their lives--their backgrounds, their life situations, and then she built a curriculum that would help them deal with their real-life challenges. The curriculum was tailored to be exactly what they needed to grow and overcome chall...more

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Jan 15, 2013 Megan rated it 4 of 5 stars

The freedom writers
In the book “ The Freedom Writers Diary” by Erin Gruwell, and the Freedom Writers. War is something that touches everyone, in different ways, some more than others. But when you think of war you probably think about somewhere over seas, with soldiers in uniforms who are fighting for our freedom. You probably have never faced it in your everyday life. But for the teenagers in “The Freedom Writer’s Diary” this is a part of everyday life. Death is a regular part of their lives....more The freedom writers
In the book “ The Freedom Writers Diary” by Erin Gruwell, and the Freedom Writers. War is something that touches everyone, in different ways, some more than others. But when you think of war you probably think about somewhere over seas, with soldiers in uniforms who are fighting for our freedom. You probably have never faced it in your everyday life. But for the teenagers in “The Freedom Writer’s Diary” this is a part of everyday life. Death is a regular part of their lives. Racism and gang violence is all they know. No one expects much out of them or expects anything out of them or thinks they’ll ever go anywhere. For them the thought of living past twenty is more of a fantasy then a reality and college is a foreign concept to them.
All of this changes for one special freshman class. It was Mrs. Gruwells’ first class of her own and she didn’t know what to expect. Once she saw the attitudes of the other students and how they treated each other and how everyone looked down on them she knew that something needed to change. And what she did with those students is truly amazing. She totally changed their perspective on themselves and how they looked and treated eachother.
The problems that the students in the book face on a daily basis are something no one should ever have to go through. Racism and gang violence are a normal part of their everyday life. They wake up in the morning wondering if it’s their last, scared to leave their own houses, scared to go home. They have no where they feel safe because everywhere is a war zone for them. But all that changes when Mrs.Gruwell came to the school. She was assigned to a class that all the other teachers called the hopeless students. They were told they were incapable to learn. She gave them a safe place to be come and be happy, where they can actually make something of themselves. The book is made up of diary entries that the students wrote daily, it gives you an inside look on their daily lives so you can see and understand what they’re going through. You can see how it affects them and everyone else around them. And there are a couple of diary entries from Mrs.Gruwell also.
I would say that this book relates more to the teenage age group because it makes it easier to connect to the majority of the characters. Since they’re high school students it makes it easier to get into their mind set and understand how they feel and what they’re going through. It is such an inspiration the change these students make not only in their lives but in the lives of others.
This book was truly an inspiration. It shows you that you really can make a difference no matter who you are, where you’re from, or how much money you have. It teaches you that everyone is equal no matter their race. It gives people that struggle hope for a better day, and initiative to go out and make a difference in the world. I would recommend this book to anyone, because even though it’s not like the books I usually get into, I was hooked the second I started it.
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Jan 15, 2013 Sidney rated it 4 of 5 stars

“It is hard raising you self. If it was easy, then we wouldn’t have parents. But we do, or most people do at east.”

The Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell is a novel written by Zlata Filipovic. I would classify this well written novel and a young adult book, because it is explain the high school lives of 150 troubled kids. This book talks about the good and the bad moments of these high-schoolers lives. I think weather people like to admit it or not, everyone is interested in other people’s lives....more

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Jan 02, 2013 Felix Ramirez rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

English teacher Erin Gruwell who work in Long Beach, California, started working with students other teachers said were "unteachable". Gruwell quickly learned that her students had more to worry about than homework; her students went home to gunfire, gangs, drugs, and a host of other difficult situations. The students were convinced that they had nothing to learn from a white woman who had never experienced firsthand the violence, discrimination, and hatred that was part of their everyday lives...more

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Dec 19, 2012 Monea Ortiz rated it 5 of 5 stars

Erin Gruwell was a first time high school english teacher in Long Beach, California. The students that she tought were kids that were rebelious to everything she said. They have are all different ethnicities and they all had to fight for survival. If they were Mexican and Asians walked into their side of the school, then there would be a "war" as they call it. Mrs. Gruwell tired her best the first day to get the student to listen to her but they just didn't budge. She noticed that her students h...more Erin Gruwell was a first time high school english teacher in Long Beach, California. The students that she tought were kids that were rebelious to everything she said. They have are all different ethnicities and they all had to fight for survival. If they were Mexican and Asians walked into their side of the school, then there would be a "war" as they call it. Mrs. Gruwell tired her best the first day to get the student to listen to her but they just didn't budge. She noticed that her students had some tention between eachother so she tried to change how they thought of eachother. She told the class that they had to write into a diary everyday, she also told them that she wasn't going to read them unless they wanted her to. When Mrs. Gruwell read the diary entries of her students, it changed her life forever. She realized how her students had to watch their backs no matter where they went. After she read the entries, she decited to take action and help the kids get to a better p;ace in their lives and she helped them change the world.
After reading The Freedom Writers Diary, it changed my whole perspective on life. It made me realize how precious my life is and that I don't have to worry about being mugged or shot every minute of my life. After reading all of the diary entries from the students in room 203, it also made me realize the struggles that kids my age had to go thriugh. Reading it, it made me feel guilty. It made me feel guilty beacuse I have never experienced anything like they did and I couldnt do anything about it. I know that it was a while ago that it happened, but I just wish there was a way that all of the stuff they went through never would of happened. All of the students in room 203 were brave and they went through so much and didn't deserve to go through any of this. I really liked this book it really changed my life, it made me realize how precious life is. The only thing I didn't really like was that I wasn't able to tell who wrote the diary entry. I know it was for their saaftey but I just didn't like that part. (less)

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Nov 08, 2012 Elizabeth rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Freedom Writers Diary is about how one teacher made a diffrence in many teens lives. This book is like a journal that many diffrent students wrote in as their personal diary that is why the setting is in many places. The main place is at Wilson High School in Long Beach, Californa. At Wilson High the students often face gang violence and teachers not caring about them that is if your not in the "gifted" program which is the class that the rich white students are in. The conflict of this stor...more

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Nov 07, 2012 Nshslibrary rated it 4 of 5 stars

“The Freedom Writers Diary,” by Erin Gruwell is a compelling novel about a group of kids from Long Beach, California in the mid-1990’s and how they overcame their hardships. Room 203 at Wilson High School was a classroom for students considered troublemakers and school rejects with little chance to graduate. Most teachers believed that these students were failures; however, one new teacher had a positive outlook. Her name was Ms. Gruwell and she believed her students could change the world if th...more “The Freedom Writers Diary,” by Erin Gruwell is a compelling novel about a group of kids from Long Beach, California in the mid-1990’s and how they overcame their hardships. Room 203 at Wilson High School was a classroom for students considered troublemakers and school rejects with little chance to graduate. Most teachers believed that these students were failures; however, one new teacher had a positive outlook. Her name was Ms. Gruwell and she believed her students could change the world if they change their attitudes. This novel is inspiring because it demonstrates how a positive educational experience can help students believe in themselves and change their own course of poverty.

An education is more than just the subjects kids learn, but the experience of being part of a supportive community. As the years went on, the kids saw room 203 more as a home than a classroom. Ms. Gruwell, the teacher of room 203, had a group of kids that came from different nationalities and neighborhoods, but in her classroom, no one was defined by their race or color. Everyone felt accepted and connected to one another. Ms Grunwell said, “For some of the students, my classroom is one of the only places where they feel safe. Room 203 is a place where they can seek refuge from all the mayhem.” p.139 It was important for room 203 to feel like home and a second family, where these kids were supported and pushed by each other to succeed.

Families struggling with poverty rarely had the ability to help their own kids. These kids, for the first time in their lives, had a teacher take an interest and believing in them. Ms Grunwell was loyal to her students, committed to staying late to teach them and putting her student’s best interests before her own. One example of her dedication was the evening when she stayed late to help them on a assignment, but realized that school had closed for night and the alarm was on. The student and Ms. Gruwell had to exit through the window, but police caught them and assumed they were stealing from the school. “They (the police) found it hard to believe that we were studying, and it was even harder to believe that some of us hoodlums were a still at school. ...They were about to arrest us all, until we found Ms. G’s Teacher of the Year plaque in the back of her four-runner. It’s weird, but this incident brought us all closer together...The fact the Ms, G was willing to get arrested to help us complete a writing assignment was a sign of loyalty, and we respect her more for it.” p.158 Ms. Gruwell’s commitment to her students gave them hope not only to graduate from high school, which for many would be the first among their families, but to aspire to go onto college.

Ms. Gruwell had given these students a rich and meaningful education. While teaching world history, she found books of true stories of hardship and survival. She was able to engage the kids by choosing stories that they could relate to and inspire them in their own lives. Ms. Gruwell wanted to give these kids new experiences, taking them on field trips. She took some of them on their first plane ride to Washington D.C. to see the Holocaust Museum and the Presidential Monuments. One of their most memorable moments occurred in front of the Lincoln Memorial, “... Something magical occurred. As if on cue all 150 of them joined hands and began to slowly retrace the same steps Martin Luther King, Jr., walked down over thirty years ago... someone began to chant, Freedom Writers have a dream! Soon everyone joined in, and their voices became one. I watched them in awe, knowing this was the dream of martin luther King and had envisioned.” p.272 Through these experiences, Ms. Gruwell was able to connect with the Freedom Writers and educate them about our history. Learning about history and how others with equally difficult challenges had persevered to achieve greatness, which was motivating to these students.

The “Freedom Writers Diary” is an inspiring novel that had me at the edge of my seat. I had never read a novel that was composed of only diaries. The diaries were written in the slang, giving an authentic feel to the stories. There were stories of all kinds of hardships, allowing many people to relate to them. Regardless of your own situation or challenges you have, learning of the Freedom Writers stories will give you the inspiration to believe change is possible. The Freedom Writers is a great read and I definitely recommend the book.(less)

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Oct 22, 2012 Kevin Royalty rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Freedom Writers Diary tells the story of how freshmen Language Arts students at Wilson High School in Long Beach California were taught how to eliminate their prejudices and become more tolerant of people with different ethnic backgrounds. Erin Gruwell was the new English teacher responsible for helping students who were from a gang background learn about literature and life at the same time. On the first day of school, Erin Gruwell realized that it wasn’t going to be easy to teach these stu...more The Freedom Writers Diary tells the story of how freshmen Language Arts students at Wilson High School in Long Beach California were taught how to eliminate their prejudices and become more tolerant of people with different ethnic backgrounds. Erin Gruwell was the new English teacher responsible for helping students who were from a gang background learn about literature and life at the same time. On the first day of school, Erin Gruwell realized that it wasn’t going to be easy to teach these students because they showed her no respect and did everything they could to make her life hard. She decided to use several techniques to help these students understand the importance of literature and its impact on people’s lives.
The first technique she used was playing the Line Game. The game consisted of taping a classroom in half and asking the students to walk up to the line if they have had certain negative experiences. The purpose of this game was to let everyone see that they were all facing the same challenges. When they finished this game, the students started to realize that they had a lot in common. The next, and most important technique, was to have students write in a journal their own life stories. She started out by having the students read The Diary of Anne Frank. The purpose of reading this book was to make the students understand Anne’s emotional response to the prejudices against Jews that led to the Holocaust. As the students recorded their own experiences they related to Anne Frank as a young girl who was scared for her life every day. The students connected to their own fear of living in an environment of gangs, shootings, and drugs. This assignment helped the students express their feelings in writing to Ms. Gruwell and the other students in the class. Ms. Gruwell hoped that the use of journals would have a lasting effect on the students and that they would continue to use them to express difficult feelings. The Freedom Writers Diary contains entries from Ms. Gruwell as well as her students so that the reader can see how the teacher and students are affected by the journal assignment.
I gave this book four stars because I thought that it was inspirational. I recommend this book to high school students and teachers whether they go to school in high crime areas or the suburbs. Other people must have found this book inspirational as well since it was turned into a highly rated movie.
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Oct 03, 2012 Leeann Stouffe rated it 4 of 5 stars

The author's purpose, which the author is The Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell, is to show the strength, courage, and achievement in the face of adversity. This is the purpose because in the book they learned about the holocaust then wrote about experiences they had that related to the holocaust.

The theme of the book is empowerment. Empowerment is the theme because once the kids started seeing everyone as human beings and not as separate races, being the victim in the situation turned into bei...more

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Aug 27, 2012 Brian rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: junior-year

In the movie the teacher gave each of students a notebook and they were allowed to write anything in it, and it was more like a diary to them. So in this book it shows what they wrote in there notebooks about their lives. Most of them talked about how their everyday lives are when they're in the streets just walking. No where is safe for them and they're always getting chased if they see people that is not their race they start running because those people will beat them up or even worse -- kil...more

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May 02, 2012 Donna rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: unfinished

For many years, I was a high school English teacher who had the privilege of reading students' stories in papers, journal entries, and the sometimes spontaneous writings they chose to share with me. The anonymous voices in The Freedom Writers Diary are not the authentic voices of students. The stories may be real, but none of them are unique, and they were either all written by the same person (presumably Erin Gruwell), or they are so heavily edited as to entirely different from the originals.

In...more

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Apr 18, 2012 Nicola rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, library, race, gender

The Freedom Writers’ Diary is a series of journal entries by LA high school students living in the ‘war zone’ of 90s gang violence. The writing project was instigated by the students’ teacher, Erin Gruwell, who used a curriculum of tolerance (drawing on literature like Anne Frank’s diary) to inspire a group of teenagers who’d previously been branded useless by the school system.

I think, ultimately, the story behind the “freedom writers” is more compelling than their actual journal entries. Becau...more

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Apr 02, 2012 Jose Chavez rated it 5 of 5 stars

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Mar 28, 2012 Taylor Dengler added it

Right now, I am reading The Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell. It is about a teacher, Ms. Gruwell who is new at this school in California. She is teaching a basic english class, full of kids with rough pasts that carry guns at all times. It's survival of the lucky in this town. Ms. Gruwell's students hate her, and think she is "just another one of those teachers that doesn't care about them." Ms. Gruwell, who is disappointed and wishing that the honors students across the hallway wouldn't be...more

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Mar 23, 2012 Achaia Bolton rated it 4 of 5 stars

Book Title - The Freedom Writers Diary
Author – The Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell
Publisher – Broadway Books
Book Type –Current Affairs
Pages – 290
Reviewer – Achaia Bolton
Date - 3/20/12

This book is about a group of 150 teenage students who thought violence was the solution to every problem. These children were always surrounded by gang violence and were also segregated from other races. It was to the point that others had given up on them. The students had the mind-set that they were going to...more

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“Don't let the actions of a few determine the way you feel about an entire group. Remember, not all German's were Nazis.” — 44 people liked it

“It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you tell kids they're stupid--directly or indirectly--sooner or later they start to believe it.” — 37 people liked it

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