The Freedom Writers Diary (Movie Tie-in Edition): How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them | 
 enlarge | Authors: The Freedom Writers, Erin Gruwell
Publisher: Broadway
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy Used: $3.02
You Save: $10.93 (78%)
New (49) Used (55) from $3.02
Avg. Customer Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 20090
Media: Paperback
Edition: Mti
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.5 x 1
ISBN: 0767924908
Dewey Decimal Number: 305.235
EAN: 9780767924900
ASIN: 0767924908
Publication Date: December 12, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
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: Read 9 more reviews...
 Excellente' January 27, 2008
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 December 16, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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 ! August 7, 2007
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
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 May 13, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Well written, deep and touching true accounts of the students past. A truly inspiring story
Courtesy of Teens Read Too May 5, 2007
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
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
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