The Freedom Writers Diary : How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them Review
What Erin Gruwell does for these students is give them a hope they never thought they would have or deserved to have. You will find this book to be brutally honest as Erin encouraged each of these students who were torn apart by families, race, color, and social status to each keep a diary.
The result of what you find in this book is extremely real and honest as these students bare their souls as to what their lives are truly like, their deepest fears, their hopes, and their dreams.
I highly recommend this read. While parts are hard to read, I think it is important that we see experience what the honest truth of these students situations were, and the power of one person making a difference.
If you are concerned that the book may be too graphic, I would recommend the movie.
The Freedom Writers Diary : How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them Feature
- ISBN13: 9780385494229
- Condition: New
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The Freedom Writers Diary : How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them Overview
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.
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Customer Reviews
Great Book - Dawn H. -
So far, this book is a real and honest portrayal of what teens (and teachers) experience in their lives, that many of us simply are unaware of. I will be reading this with my students as part of a program to foster compassion, acceptance, and tolerance. Has some adult content.
Freedome Writers Diary - dogwalker -
Freedom Writers Diary is a literature selection that all high school instructors and high school students should read. The reader learns that if you believe and have the desire to achieve success it will happen.
R Rated - Cyndrome -
My fourteen year old daughter was given this book for a writing assignment over the summer. I was familiar with this book from the movie so I thought what a wonderful story. It was time for her to see life from a different perspective.
When the book arrived I scanned it and was appauld at the raw language and sexual content.
My issue is with her school who assigned such a book at her age level. If it were a movie based on the diary entries it would have been rated R. If she can't get in to see an R rated movie at 14 she should not be permitted to read it either.
School states it is mandatory, so I edited it. Parents beware of what schools are requiring your student to read. Cyndrome
*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Oct 16, 2010 06:19:21
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