Editorial Review
Shocked by the teenage violence she witnessed during the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles, Erin Gruwell became a teacher at a high school rampant with hostility and racial intolerance. For many of these students–whose ranks included substance abusers, gang members, the homeless, and victims of abuse–Gruwell was the first person to treat them with dignity, to believe in their potential and help them see it themselves. Soon, their loyalty towards their teacher and burning enthusiasm to help end violence and intolerance became a force of its own. Inspired by reading The Diary of Anne Frank and meeting Zlata Filipovic (the eleven-year old girl who wrote of her life in Sarajevo during the civil war), the students began a joint diary of their inner-city upbringings. Told through anonymous entries to protect their identities and allow for complete candor, The Freedom Writers Diary is filled with astounding vignettes from 150 students who, like civil rights activist Rosa Parks and the Freedom Riders, heard society tell them where to go–and refused to listen.
Proceeds from this book benefit the Freedom Writers Foundation, an organization set up to provide scholarships for underprivieged youth and to train teachers
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Customer Reviews
great for teens and tweens 
2007-03-09
I bought this book for two 12 year olds to read, they are still reading and it has sparked important discussions!
AMAZING. 2007-03-09
this book was apsolutly amazing. i loved it. if you have seen the movie the book is exactly like it. it is amazing if you are a teenager like myself. my dad bought this book for me for my birthday. if you havent already bought it buy it. If you havent bought it and you havent seen the movie. READ the book first then watch the movie. AMAZING!
My Daughter found "Freedom" in this book! 2007-02-19
My daughter is adopted. She is also African American and her father and I are White. She is well aware of the racism in this world. Also being learning disabled reading does not come easy for her. I got her this book in hopes to peak her interest in reading. I got so very much more!! She was able to relate to the struggles the students at Wilson High School were going through. Although she is not a student that would be deemed "Unteachable at-risk" as the students in this book were she was able to put her self in thier shoes and walk along side them relating to many of their day to day issues. My daughter has always loved to journal but now does it with a whole new purpose. I really had no idea this book would make such a profound difference in her life! This book is well written and easy to understand but not oversimplified causing you to lose interest. Written in such a manner you get to know the students as if you were in class with them each day. Making it easy to feel their struggles, pain and their joys. I purchased a copy for myself and read along with my daughter. This book helped me see more clearly the struggles my daughter was and is going through living is a world marked with intolerance. I wish every school in America had thier own Mrs. Gruwell!!!!
Watch the movie first! 
2007-02-12
The movies is much better than the book because you can feel and see the pain on film. I didn't enjoy as much as I could've because I believe there were editors construing the original diary.
You've heard this story before 
2007-02-02
This book is yet another in a series of young idealistic teacher reaches out to kids successfully works. Don't get me wrong, I think the author does an admirable job of trying to find a curriculum that works for her students. The problem lies in the fact that none of her ideas are all that innovative or compelling. It's standard practice to attempt to teach children writing through assignments that let them write about themselves.
Furthermore, this book is peppered with the old cliche "all the veteran teachers were resentful and jealous of me but we all know that it's because I'm better." Give it a rest. Teaching is NOT a calling. None of us pulled a sword from a stone or took a vow of chastity. Teaching is a profession -- a difficult, ever-changing, skilled profession which requires specific training and a lot of hard work. Simple as that. When the author gets all philosophical and refers to her "need" to teach and her inability to do anything else, she gives reason for others to think that teachers should remain underpaid, overworked, and burdened with many responsibilities they never signed on for. Prevailing thought is that teachers are "called" to their profession so they will do it no matter how little you reward them. This book reinforces that intolerable cliche. Teachers will never be treated as the competent, skilled professionals they are until they dump this garbage and demand to be counted as such.
Also, I'm not demeaning teachers who try to shake things up in their first few years. I'll concede that some of the most innovative and exciting movements in education come from those who are viewing the profession with new eyes and lots of energy. But remember for every plan as the one described in this book, which was quite successful, there are far more new teachers who dismiss pedagogy at the expense of their students' education. There are reasons behind the traditional methods of teaching.
The follow-up to this book is entitled "Teach from the Heart." That scares me. Don't teach from a place of emotion. Teach with compassion in your heart, but teach from your skills. Teach from your learned opinions -- those you got in college and those you got in your constant re-certification training (not required in every profession, but required for teachers).
All in all, this book is OK. It's uplifting when you wade through the pity party the author has about how unfairly she feels she was treated. Listen to the stories of the children involved for a very eye-opening look at what young people in our society face. But let THEM be the authors of what you read. The author's "notes" are more of the same and can be found in any "new teacher takes on the system" drivel.
Excellente' 2008-01-27
We just saw the movie tonight. I thought it was excellent and cool. I thought that it was awsome how the gangs all came together as a family. They were no longer fighting each other. They came together because they saw the reality that they were alike and how much better it would be if they just got along.
Their teacher sacrificed so much of her time. She just wanted to help the kids and stop them from killing each other. She sacrificed her time, her marriage and her money to take care of the kids. She got them to read, to write, to express themselves in writing. This got them respect each other and themselves because they saw that they had so much in common. The teacher helped them understand that they can be heros in their own eyes by doing what they CAN do to make it a better world.
freedomwriters 2007-12-17
This book was not like any other. It had heart to it, when one of the kids had to buy a gun just so he can protect himself from the kids down the block. Everybody has a life story about what happened. It took place in the middle of one of the worse neighborhoods you can be in. These kids were troublesome and had nobody to count on them and they had nobody. Then a teacher has hope for the kids and comes in and trys to help these children. Shes lets them express there selfs by writing in a diary she gives them. she made a difference by showing them the potential they have and the neighborhood they live in, they dont have to be like that.
READ THIS, THEN PASS IT ON TO A FRIEND ! 2007-08-07
A close friend kept bugging me to see the movie, "Freedom Writers." Finally, we watched it one afternoon, and she was right. It's a very good movie. After seeing the movie, I came home the same day, and ordered the book. The book is a collection of diary entries by high school students in the Long Beach area of L.A., right after the Rodney King riots. Some of their true stories are horrific and all are intense. These kids, who are 14, at the beginning of the book, have to deal with abusive or neglecting parents, parents strung out on drugs, pressures to be in a gang or to lie in court to protect their own. It's a very intense book. Their teacher, Erin Gruwell, set herself the goal to teach them about tolerance and stop the cycle of violence in their lives. Amazingly, she was suceesful. This book follows the kids through their high school years, and the changes that take place in their thinking in that time.This is a great book, I couldn't put it down.
Freedom Writers 2007-05-13
Well written, deep and touching true accounts of the students past. A truly inspiring story
Courtesy of Teens Read Too 2007-05-05
This is the book that the movie Freedom Writers (Widescreen Edition) is based on. These are the diaries of the students put into one book.
There are no names used in the book--each diary entry has a number, so that the students could feel free to write what they wanted without knowing exactly who wrote what. Personally, I think this is a great idea because the diary entries were very open and you could tell the students wrote exactly what they felt.
THE FREEDOM WRITERS DIARY is a truly excellent book, because everything is so real and most of The Freedom Writers had to grow up at an extremely early age. Many had their innocence taken away around the age of ten. The Rodney King riots were going on and the Columbine High School event occurred during the time of the book. These high school students had seen more murder and dead bodies then most people will ever see in their entire lives.
99% of The Freedom Writers have even been shot at. This is an extremely true and eye-opening statistic. Segregation is still an issue in the United States, even though many people don't have to deal with it. This book taught me a lot about tolerance and what happens on the streets of Long Beach, California.
Reviewed by: Taylor Rector
