Have You Read “The Freedom Writers Diary”?

If you answered “no,” then go to your local library or bookstore and track down this book! I just picked it up last week and have been poring through it. I know there’s a movie and everything, but there’s nothing like reading these teens’ real diary entries to make you feel connected with the writers’ innermost thoughts.

If you have been living under a rock and don’t know what this book is all about, here’s a quick description of :

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 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.

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What I love the most about The Freedom Writers Diary is that the you can see the transformation of the students through their writing. Many of Erin Gruwell’s students lived in gang-infested projects, where they saw friends and family senselessly murdered, while others experienced painful circumstances like being the victims of sexual abuse, rape, and violence. Many students were filled with skepticism and even hatred towards people of other races and cultures. On top of that, Erin’s students had been given the message by “society” time and time again that they didn’t have a chance at doing anything meaningful with their lives.

Yet over the course of the four years during which the diaries were written, Erin’s students realized that they could make the choice to speak out against intolerance of all kinds, and that they really could create the life they wanted if they tried.

I must admit…sometimes I feel like I live in a bubble where everyone gets along, everyone is color-blind, and people are always accepted for who they are. And then I hear about things like the tragic Virginia Tech shootings or read about the continuing genocide in Darfur, Sudan, and I am shocked back to reality and I realize that the picture in my head doesn’t necesearily reflect the truth.

I am so happy I picked up The Freedom Writers Diary…it came to me just when I needed it, and it filled me to the brim with optimism and hope. So thank you to all of the Freedom Writers, past, present and future. You are an inspiration, and you can change the world!

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If you’ve read The Freedom Writers Diary, share your thoughts here! And keep checking back on The Freedom Writers Diary website…a new interactive hangout for teens will be premiering there soon!

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Paramount Home Entertainment, the people behind the Freedom Writers movie, just announced that they’re distributing 22,000 teaching kids to schools across North America to help further the Freedom Writers mission in schools. They’re also sponsoring a contest challenging students to write a 300-word essay on their inspiration to change. Winners will receive a $1,000 scholarship prize. Ask teachers at your school if they’re going to be a part of the change!