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rachelp's review
4.0
This book is a compilation of journal entries written by Erin Gruwell's 150 high school students. The book starts when they are freshmen and continues through their senior year and graduation. The students are "high risk" students. Students no one had faith in, except their teacher, "Mrs. G." They all take great strides, and while no one, not even their own families, expected them to make it to their senior year, the students strive to change not only their own lives, but also the world around them.
elvenavari's review
3.0
Some of the reviews had led me to believe this was going to be a tediously boring read. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the entries flowed easily and the stories were inspiring. There are too few teachers who were as dedicated to their students as Ms. Gruwell.
katietapestry's review
2.0
The 'diaries' from the students in this book became a little repetitive; I didn't get a sense of each author having a sense of voice so I don't know if there was some heavy-handed editing going on. I found the story a little too good to be true and it was difficult to get a sense of what the class was like and how they made the transition from a group of reluctant, struggling street-smart (and not-so-smart) kids to a class of young adults eager to engage with the world around them and improve their lives. I found it difficult to finish because of this and lost interest. Might use extracts of it in a classroom context (after being recommended the book by a student) but I'll watch the movie and see if it's any more 'authentic'.
the_naptime_reader's review
4.0
This is def. one of those books where it is WAY better than the movie. As an inner-city teacher I was inspired by Gruwell's work in CA. The book is one that I would use in my high school classroom. I love any book that shows the teaching profession for the wonderful, challenging, amazing, craft that it is.
The movie version did not even come close to doing that. Do not see the movie. Read this instead!
The movie version did not even come close to doing that. Do not see the movie. Read this instead!
janellekcook's review against another edition
5.0
This book had me laughing and crying all the way through. It's a great pick-me-up for teachers, and since it's all true, it was even better. The students from Room 203 were/are amazing in all that they did in high school and beyond to form the Freedom Writers and take back what society had stolen from them before they even had a chance: an equal education.
athira's review
4.0
I first heard of this book in Sheila's blog when she reviewed this during the Banned Books week last year. At that point, I wasn't too keen on reading the book, but when I saw the movie pop up in my Netflix recommendations list, I decided to check it out. I didn't have too many expectations from it, but by the end of the movie, I loved it. Who doesn't love a rebel? And I mean a good rebel -- someone who succeeds in something when everyone else expected him/her to fail. The movie was everything about changing your destiny, and all through my life, I've never tolerated the 'fate' and 'destiny' philosophies that anyone dished out to me. I like to believe that I'm the only person who can control my life -- of course there's the butterfly effect and then there is the case where someone else's actions can affect what happens to you, but they are usually single events, and most times, one can always decide one's reactions to such events. Would you rather wallow in depression because you are going through a life-changing mess or would you rather change the way you respond to that mess?
The Freedom Writers' Diary is the strongest proof I've seen about how you can make a difference to your life and to those around you. All the kids in Erin Gruwell's class have already been written off as failures, by other teachers, other students, and even their own parents. Worse, none of the kids could identify with Erin -- a white woman staying in a safe suburban residence, with no teaching experience and who had no idea of life in the violent gang-controlled streets of LA. Since even their previous teachers had given up on them, they gave Erin just a month before they believed she would move on.
The following 300-odd pages of this book shows so well how every single student has been transformed by Erin's teaching methods, the students' life experiences, their choices and willingness to perhaps hope that maybe they'll come through it all fine. So many stories in the book are moving. There's the student who's the sole caretaker of the family and is on the verge of eviction because he/she has to pay 800 bucks in rent and the car payment is also due. Then the girl who had a really wonderful family life at one point and within a few years, the mother left, the father remarried to a woman she and her siblings couldn't adjust to; soon they moved to an aunt's place who loved her a lot until her lover returned from the jail and the kids were back to square one -- homeless and family-less. There's the boy whose family doesn't have a home to stay in because they are so poor. There's the girl whose parents stole her stuff so that they can fund their drug addiction. There's also the girl who had to bring herself up because her mother was tired of being a mother. There's the boy whose father doesn't think his son will succeed and offers no hope or encouragement.
So many of the diary entries make you really sad, but by the end of each entry, I still smiled because the kids weren't writing with despair, they were writing with hope. They made promises to themselves and expressed their gratitude that they at least still had the Freedom Writers. Erin Gruwell and her class were a symbol of hope for all these kids. It's beautiful reading about how these kids change and how they do and wish good for others too. Their hostility is very evident in the initial diary entries, but as I read, I could vividly see the changes happening. It's also a reminder that just because a kid walks around with a gun or a knife, it doesn't mean that they are bad. It means they need help and there are no adults offering them that.
I've never had a teacher like Erin Gruwell, but then I've never been in a challenged class like Erin's. Still, every school needs someone like her -- if not to help those 'written-off' kids, then to at least empathize with the kids in their class. All kids have problems -- maybe not as tragic as the circumstances of the kids in this book, but certainly important problems that can have far-reaching consequences later on in life.
I loved both the movie and the book -- both are remarkably similar in plotline, but the book is just a bunch of numbered diary entries (you never know the identity of most kids and that lends a poignant innocent feel to the book). In the movie, there are some characters that are more central to the storyline. I loved all the actors who portrayed the students. They really got well into the skin of their characters. The movie also gives a personal look into Erin's life, which is not present in the book. As I understand it, the movie also used Erin's memoir to put together the various threads. I will recommend both the movie and the book to you -- they are both well-done. If like me, you aren't feeling motivated to read the book, you should certainly watch the movie then. I promise that you'll be checking out the book the very next day.
The Freedom Writers' Diary is the strongest proof I've seen about how you can make a difference to your life and to those around you. All the kids in Erin Gruwell's class have already been written off as failures, by other teachers, other students, and even their own parents. Worse, none of the kids could identify with Erin -- a white woman staying in a safe suburban residence, with no teaching experience and who had no idea of life in the violent gang-controlled streets of LA. Since even their previous teachers had given up on them, they gave Erin just a month before they believed she would move on.
The following 300-odd pages of this book shows so well how every single student has been transformed by Erin's teaching methods, the students' life experiences, their choices and willingness to perhaps hope that maybe they'll come through it all fine. So many stories in the book are moving. There's the student who's the sole caretaker of the family and is on the verge of eviction because he/she has to pay 800 bucks in rent and the car payment is also due. Then the girl who had a really wonderful family life at one point and within a few years, the mother left, the father remarried to a woman she and her siblings couldn't adjust to; soon they moved to an aunt's place who loved her a lot until her lover returned from the jail and the kids were back to square one -- homeless and family-less. There's the boy whose family doesn't have a home to stay in because they are so poor. There's the girl whose parents stole her stuff so that they can fund their drug addiction. There's also the girl who had to bring herself up because her mother was tired of being a mother. There's the boy whose father doesn't think his son will succeed and offers no hope or encouragement.
So many of the diary entries make you really sad, but by the end of each entry, I still smiled because the kids weren't writing with despair, they were writing with hope. They made promises to themselves and expressed their gratitude that they at least still had the Freedom Writers. Erin Gruwell and her class were a symbol of hope for all these kids. It's beautiful reading about how these kids change and how they do and wish good for others too. Their hostility is very evident in the initial diary entries, but as I read, I could vividly see the changes happening. It's also a reminder that just because a kid walks around with a gun or a knife, it doesn't mean that they are bad. It means they need help and there are no adults offering them that.
I've never had a teacher like Erin Gruwell, but then I've never been in a challenged class like Erin's. Still, every school needs someone like her -- if not to help those 'written-off' kids, then to at least empathize with the kids in their class. All kids have problems -- maybe not as tragic as the circumstances of the kids in this book, but certainly important problems that can have far-reaching consequences later on in life.
If four years ago someone would have told me that Ms. G was going to last more than a month, I would have laughed straight in their face. She wasn't supposed to make it, we weren't supposed to make it. But look at us now, the sure-to-drop-out kids are sure to reach higher education. No one would have thought of the "bad-asses" as high school graduates -- as any kind of graduates. Yet, in four years we will be college graduates. Our names will be on the alumni lists of Columbia, Princeton, Stanford, and even Harvard.
I loved both the movie and the book -- both are remarkably similar in plotline, but the book is just a bunch of numbered diary entries (you never know the identity of most kids and that lends a poignant innocent feel to the book). In the movie, there are some characters that are more central to the storyline. I loved all the actors who portrayed the students. They really got well into the skin of their characters. The movie also gives a personal look into Erin's life, which is not present in the book. As I understand it, the movie also used Erin's memoir to put together the various threads. I will recommend both the movie and the book to you -- they are both well-done. If like me, you aren't feeling motivated to read the book, you should certainly watch the movie then. I promise that you'll be checking out the book the very next day.
akuhlma03's review against another edition
1.0
I was having a difficult time finishing this book and I went to renew it and the libray would not allow me because it was on hold. I took this as a sign to not finish it :)
fiona_leonard's review
4.0
If you haven't seen the movie of Freedom Writers, I would highly recommend you do so. It's a terrific movie and also provides a useful scene setter for the book. This is one of the rare cases where it is better to see the movie first. Rather than be a narrative that parallels the movie, the book focuses on the journal entries of the students, many of whom were featured in the movie. The journal entries are at once depressing, fascinating and inspiring. They provide a really interesting snapshot into the world of inner city Los Angeles, looking in particular at the drug and gang culture and the lives of kids struggling to be more than they were predestined to be. I suspect that having read the journal entries, it would be good to now go back and watch the film again as you would admire them even more. As a writer and as someone who teaches English, I was also struck by the way in which literature was used to connect with kids on so many different levels.
shamelesslyash's review
4.0
I had to read this for a class I’m taking and I kind of rolled my eyes but I ended up really liking this book. Long Beach is only a 10 minute drive from my house so I’m familiar with the area. I grew up in the 90s so I wasn’t a teenager nor did I know much of what was going on but wow there was a lot.
The Freedom Writers tell it like it is without sugarcoating it. This was a real look into what was happening in the early to mid 90s.
The Freedom Writers tell it like it is without sugarcoating it. This was a real look into what was happening in the early to mid 90s.
lanikei's review
2.0
I was pretty disappointed by this book from the get-go. Diaries and journals are interesting because you are able to experience someone else's life in real-time. Part of that experience is being immersed in the language, personality, and emotion of the author. The students idolize Anne Frank and Zlata, but don't allow any of their own voices into their writing. Each entry sounds just like the next with only occasional sentences that feel "real" and un-edited.
Good writers capture the energy of their experience, and these students have seen too much to be as bland as these examples portray. The few poems recited - although not great - at least convey some emotion. It's a shame since some of these stories are extremely powerful - issues such as homelessness, child abuse, domestic violence, street violence, peer pressure... all expressed in cookie cutter language that could all be written by the same person.
I expected to see a realistic progression in the journal entries; I wanted to see improvement as these students grew as writers and people. I appreciate a variety of perspectives, but I think the book suffered from not having a consistent batch of identifiable characters that progressed over the course of four years. Anonymous entries further their cause, but detract from the impact and make it harder to "own" the characters as you read.
The book certainly got better as I read. The students certainly had some amazing opportunities, and I was proud to see them develop as people as the book progressed. Perhaps as they got better as writers over the years the later entries were less heavily edited and retained more flavor.
I really wish there had been more information about how the book was compiled and edited. Certainly she couldn't have gotten these students to write the long-winded and introspective entries at the beginning of her first semester. Without that information many of these entries feel so forced and unbelieveable that I found it difficult to read them at all. Even an afterword explaining that the pieces were elaborated on and edited before the published final draft would be helpful. I can understand the students wanting to showcase their best work, but I'd like to see more information about the process.
From an education perspective... I felt like I wasn't getting the whole story about Ms. Grunell and her resources. It's wonderful that she had the support that she did, but it is so glazed over that it seems like it should be within any teacher's grasp. That doesn't seem quite fair to many of the amazing teachers that struggle just to keep their head afloat. I know that she has another book that is more focused on her methods, and maybe that has more of what I was looking for.
Good writers capture the energy of their experience, and these students have seen too much to be as bland as these examples portray. The few poems recited - although not great - at least convey some emotion. It's a shame since some of these stories are extremely powerful - issues such as homelessness, child abuse, domestic violence, street violence, peer pressure... all expressed in cookie cutter language that could all be written by the same person.
I expected to see a realistic progression in the journal entries; I wanted to see improvement as these students grew as writers and people. I appreciate a variety of perspectives, but I think the book suffered from not having a consistent batch of identifiable characters that progressed over the course of four years. Anonymous entries further their cause, but detract from the impact and make it harder to "own" the characters as you read.
The book certainly got better as I read. The students certainly had some amazing opportunities, and I was proud to see them develop as people as the book progressed. Perhaps as they got better as writers over the years the later entries were less heavily edited and retained more flavor.
I really wish there had been more information about how the book was compiled and edited. Certainly she couldn't have gotten these students to write the long-winded and introspective entries at the beginning of her first semester. Without that information many of these entries feel so forced and unbelieveable that I found it difficult to read them at all. Even an afterword explaining that the pieces were elaborated on and edited before the published final draft would be helpful. I can understand the students wanting to showcase their best work, but I'd like to see more information about the process.
From an education perspective... I felt like I wasn't getting the whole story about Ms. Grunell and her resources. It's wonderful that she had the support that she did, but it is so glazed over that it seems like it should be within any teacher's grasp. That doesn't seem quite fair to many of the amazing teachers that struggle just to keep their head afloat. I know that she has another book that is more focused on her methods, and maybe that has more of what I was looking for.