reader review
4008A, A reviewer, 06/02/2008

The Freedom Writers Diary written by the Freedom Writers along with their teacher Erin Gruwell have put together a very grasping book. IN this book the students write of their own family,friend, and school problems or ideas. Along with the entries you learn about the students personalities and how different they feel they are from one another. The students who have written these entries have really brought heart to the book in putting in all their own experiences and personal moments into the book. What I liked about this book was that every student had a different view or idea on each other and the class at first and that sometimes people who were like enemies would write almost like they are the same person. People who I think may enjoythis book are people who like reading about true events and about how people who went through certain events thought of it.

Freedom Reader's Review
4059E, A reviewer, 06/02/2008

The book Freedom Writer's Diary is a combination of diary entries from a classroom of highschol students living in Long Beach. Their new english teacher, Mrs. Gruwell, brings in a whole new way of teaching the teens and connecteing the curriculum to their everyday lives. The way she compares she hostiry, like the Holocaust,, to their everyday lives full of gangs, violence, and abuse, changes their lives forever. In these entries, you can connect with the writers' most inner thoughts, feelings, and unforgettable pasts. The authors are more concerned about telling their story than 'beautiful' or 'perfect' writing, but just reading what they've written from the heart about what they've been through connects and engages you in the book. What i liked about the book was that each diary entry was different, writen about something new, in a way. It's just hard to imagine being in any of these teens' positions. I think anyone interested in reading about real teens and their lives would enjoy the book, someone who can understand the events in this book.

freedom writers diary
A reviewer, A reviewer, 05/31/2008

The Freedom Writers Diary was an amazing novel. When i got assigned this story in class, i was really excited because i had seen the movie last year. I never knew that a book would open my eyes, and help me realize how fortunate i am. This novel is made up of real journal entries from students at Wilson High School in Long Beach, California. The students get a new Language Arts Teacher named Mrs. Gruwell. Mrs. Gruwell didn't know what she was in for, because she was assigned to teach students who were known as the 'nobodys', and trouble makers. When the students come into her class, they've seen and been through more than half the people in America probably have. Between drive-byes, drug busts, rape, theft, they've been through it all. One of the most problems they have though is racistem. Mrs. Gruwell helps these teens overcome they're problems in life through her teaching. 150 teens went from hating school and thinking it was a joke, to loving every second of it and trying the best that they could so they could have the best life possible. At the end of freshman year, Mrs. Gruwell's class becomes a family, and she ends up teaching them throughout they're whole High School experience, each year having additional teens join. This story is so inspiring, because it prove that if you are determined enough one person can make a difference in another persons life..for the better. This novel also taught me to become a better person. i'd recommend this book for every school in america to read. If every school in the world had a Mrs. Gruwell we would have a better world.

This book will knock ur socks out!
A reviewer, A reviewer, 01/25/2008

The Freedom Writer’s Diary is the best story you could ever read! This book is about how Mrs.Gruwell, a new teacher at Wilson High School in Long Beach, California, and 150 teens change themselves and the ones around them by writing their problems in a journal. The main conflict in this book is that the teens in this book are either drug related, they have killed someone, or they don’t have any family members either because they’re in jail or dead. This teacher is new and all she sees and hears in this school are racial comments on teens of any race whether their White, Black, Latino, Asian or whatever they are they get bullied on. As they read the treasured books Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo they get the understanding on how all of them have the same thoughts. The mostly thing I like about this book is that it shows me how I can relate to these teens. It shows me and it could show u how to deal with your problems and that you are not alone. What I didn’t like about it was that in the diary entries it usually doesn’t say their names. Also what I like about the book is that the author talks about the different things they do in class to show them how the world looks with them destroying it. I do recommend this book because usually teens would read this book and they could relate to it as well as me. The reader could also learn new strategies of what to do and what to learn from. Read it or you’ll miss out!

A reviewer
destanie, senior, 01/24/2008

This book has opened up a new light to me. I have been in a drive-by, and I lost a friend. Diary 6 reminded me of myself watching as my friend dropped to the grass and did not and would not get up again. I remember his smile and his funny laugh after I did something stupid. Diary 18 was a hard one to read. This person talked about the “peanut game.” They thought it was stupid and had no point. The game was about all the different shapes and colors of the peanut and how each one was different on the outside, but in the inside they were the same. The peanut was crunchy and tasty. That’s what matters, the inside. It doesn’t matter if your White, Latino, Black, Asian, skinny or fat all that matters is your personality, your manners, your self-worth. What are you worth to yourself? I have always wanted to tell my story, every time I seemed to be afraid. Something was holding me back. Being afraid was one word that would never describe the freedom writers. They knew no fear. Their story would be told throughout the world and be beacons of light to those in the darkness. They’re brave, strong, individuals. They freedom writers are sending a message to teens. This message rings in my ears and keeps me from silence. Their message is simple: when you come to a fork in the road of life and you have to choose between what you know is right and what you know is wrong. The road is not solid and does not move forward, it splits. There are two roads. So look around and look hard.