The Freedom Writers Diary

Have you ever had a time when you just want to stand up and make a difference in the world? Explain an idea of yours that you’ve been dying to explain your full life? Share secrets with people who you know you can trust? Well in The Freedom Writers Diary you read about real life kids who took those thoughts of making a difference in the world, and they made them a reality.

In The Freedom Writers Diary, the story is written in diary entries by the Freedom Writers themselves. The diary entries start in freshman year of 1994 at Wilson High School in Long Beach, California. It is Ms. Gruwell’s first year teaching and it is also the first year after school integration laws have been passed. On the first day when Ms. Gruwell enters her class she notices the diversity of her classroom and how other people are treating each other.  She passes out notebooks to all of the students and tells them to do a daily diary entry about anything and everything that they would like. This is where the story of The Freedom Writers truly begins. The book is setup in diary entries to keep all of the authors anonymous and to help show how different all of their stories really are. Because of all of the diversity of the stories and everything you learn about these teens the book holds the reader and makes it almost impossible to put the book down.

The first entry in the book talks about how no one believes that Ms. Gruwell will last more than a month at Wilson High School. But from there all of the students change their minds about Ms. Gruwell. They learn that she will never give up on them, no matter what happens. Throughout their freshman year all of the students begin to learn that they can accept each other and that none of them are really that different. The book then moves on to sophomore year where the students join together to bring two of the most important people they have read about, to them.

After Ms. Gruwell wins the right to continue teaching her students after their sophomore year the story continues from there all the way to the day of their graduation in senior year. Over the years many more students join the Freedom Writers and help to accept everyone that they meet, no matter what they’ve been through or who they are.

I recommend this book to others to read because of the great meaning and message of the book. The book truly changes your life after you’ve read it in many ways. No matter who you are, this book is a must read for teens all over the world. Because the book is set up in diary entries, it makes the book a very quick and interesting read. There is never a dull moment in the book and you may never want to even put down the book. I rate this book a 10/10 because of how easy of a read it is and also how important and controversial the topics of each diary entry are. If you haven’t read it yet, I strongly recommend doing it soon. It will change your life and give you a whole new perspective on what you can do to make a change in the world!

Book Review by Sam B.