The Freedom Writers Diary

by The Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell

Broadway Books, New York 1999

This is a most unusual book in that it is a diary written by about 150 people!

It sounds a bit like a movie plot (partly because a movie has been made from the story), but the Freedom Writers is a real group of students in a Californian school in the late 1990s. Inspired by the LA riots, new teacher Erin Gruwell decides to build tolerance rather than hatred and prejudice amongst her students – her ‘going nowhere’ students. Together, they achieved amazing things including flying Zlata Filipovic to speak to them and holding a peace march in Washington.

Being written by so many people, you would expect difficulties in the flow and different styles. However, the book flows together really well and it isn’t obviously written by a group of people. That is, each story stands alone but all are clear and easy to udnerstand so I moved from entry to entry without having to readjust. Whether it has been heavily edited or the students have been taught in a similar way it’s impossible to tell from the reading.

The diary covers the four years of the freedom writers moving through high school (years 9 to 12.) Apart from Erin Gruwell, who writes a diary entry at the start of each school year, the entries are not identified with a name and each student generally only has one entry included. The lack of names gives the students the chance to be completely honest in their writing and it actually helps the reader. At first, it seems strange to not know the name of someone revealing so much but it becomes easier to focus on their story without distraction of their name, gender, age or race.

What I did find hard was not knowing the entire story. Each student submitted an entry about a life changing or important moment so it is not a consistent flow between events over the four years. Sometimes, the students refer to things in a way that implied knowledge which I didn’t have – for example, little mention was made of their concert except in passing so I understood it more from the photo captions than the text. The result is that I now intend to read Erin Gruwell’s Teach with your heart to fill in the gaps.

Overall, the book is very positive and shows how unimportant the colour of our skin is compared to the person inside. It is an inspiring story of how we each can make a difference in our own lives and in the world around us, but it is not a moralising lecture. Some of those students have been through experiences most of only see in movies, but you can feel their hope as they became Freedom Writers.

To further prove their intent to change the world and strop racial problems, the authors do not get paid for this book; all author proceeds go to the Freedom Writers Foundation to help schools around the world inspire their students.

A book with sadness but hope, with many authors but a single message, with racism met with tolerance. A book worth reading.

Filed under: Book reviews