The Freedom Writers Diary (20th Anniversary Edition): How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them

I remember watching the movie when it came out and told myself I'll eventually read the book. I totally forgot about it, until I saw the anniversary being shared on Facebook. I purchased the book right away and I loved it. It really went line by line of how the movie was played out. I think the experience and lessons given by reading this book is so truth to reality of minorities even to this day. It really took me back to my childhood and made me relive some of my experiences. The read made me feel motivated to continue doing better and keep striving for what is right and for what I want to accomplish. If you want a good read, something that will take you back in time, I highly suggest picking up this book.

This book was amazing. a definite read for inspiration.

The book starts in Long Beach 1994 in a school named Wilson High School . It's freshman year and most of the students have already given up on themselves along with most other teachers in the school. They were seen as the misfits, not supposed to graduate from highschool. All they cared about was their gang, they saw themselves as a gang member before they saw themself as a human being. This book follows their favious experiences dealing with adversaries, hardships, and dealing with racism. Things weren’t supposed to change, the students were on this path and there was no sign they wanted to change until a hopeful white woman came to the school to teach them english. Erin Gruwell saw that these kids were capable of great things, they just needed someone to believe in them. She designed her lessons to teach them about history they could relate to and gave them assignments in order to give them confidence. Throughout the book we can see how she changed these students' lives and teach them how to believe in themselves and their abilities. She made them write in a journal to capture their lives and this book is a collection of some of those entries. I also love the writing style in this book, rather than being told by a single person the story is told by the diary entries of the students. We are able to see how the attitude and confidence of each student changes as we get further into the book. We get their in the moment, thoughts making the whole thing a little bit more personal. The diary entries allowed for us to have a deeper connection with the students and for us to really understand what struggles each of them had to go through. This book does a great job of showing the influence teachers can have on kids, teaching has become very political and everything is based off of the curriculum. Lots of factors are going against teachers not allowing them to form the kind of teacher student relationship that we see in this book, this book just shows to me that teachers need more wiggle room to be able to show that they are people and not just their grades. Some students give up because they believe they aren't good enough because people say they are or their grades make them feel like they are incapable and then they stop trying. But in the end the only person that can tell you you can or can’t is yourself. This is a constant theme in this book, Mrs. Gruwell met these kids when they had no hope or belief in themselves and in the end of her showing them they can they end up surpassing everyone else’s expectations.

This book follows the movie exactly how it is but gives more depth to the students letters as well as the teacher absolutely loved!!!

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.

Once I saw the movie I loved the story so much that I had to read the book and... it's beyond words. I Loved it! A dive into humanity, hope, trust, love beyond any labels. One of those book that you have to read at least once in a lifetime

Very flimsy book but story is good

Pretty good book bought it after seeing the film at school

A different presentation of the book. Dairy notes ate of different students. But their arrangement is such that a whole narration is intertwined to present it as a complete story. Very interesting reading, though sometimes it becomes very lengthy.

Very happy with the whole purchase experience, great book