Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell and her students

Twenty three year old Erin Gruwell was a new teacher in Long Beach, California. Erin was filled with energy and ideas and was not deterred when she was given the students referred to as the “unteachables”. Going optimistically head long into the class it did not take Erin long to see the invisible lines drawn between race, color, and social status.
When a picture is passed through the room making fun of a student, Erin brings up how hateful things like this start wars. Mentioning the Holocaust she is shocked to find that most of the students in her room had never heard of this. Using her own money, as the school would not provide books for such social outcasts, Erin teaches the students through reads like Anne Frank, and slowly builds the trust not only in her, but in each other.

I always try to read a book before I watch a movie although, such as in this case, it does not happen that way. When I seen this movie years ago I did not even know it was a book. The movie was phenomenal and even as I write this review and I think of this powerful story it brings tears to my eyes.
I had purchased the books years back after realizing it was a book and as many of my books do… it sat on the shelf until recently. Reading this book, was just as wonderful as the movie.
I can not stand hate. It is a dirty four letter word. I can not handle families torn apart and people judging each other for anything. Having lost all of my immediate family members to tragedies, it breaks my heart to see families choose not to speak to one another over whatever differences they feel they have.
What I wouldn’t give to have one more conversation with my mom. My dad. My sister.
I am getting off course, but this book brings out a lot of emotion as I felt again within the pages, the hate, the labels, the teachers who looked at these students as a waste of their time and the schools money. What Erin does costs her much, but the outcome…. is priceless. Within this true story you will find the power and passion of one person, who erased the invisible hate lines by daring to cross them and showing love to students that were starving for it.
An amazing and powerful read that if you have not read – I highly recommend you do. And this week, if you can make the time, I challenge you to rent this movie. I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

Amazon Rating

Why was The Freedom’ Writers Diary Banned?
On March 11, 2008, an English teacher at Perry Meridian High School in Indianapolis, Indiana, Connie Heerman, was suspended for a year and a half without pay for using the Freedom Writers Diary in her classroom against the wishes of the school board.^[ Administrators objected to racial slurs and sexual content in portions of the book. Heerman had received permission the previous year to attend a workshop based on the books and obtained permission slips from the parents involved. The school board contends that Heermen did not properly follow the rules to receive permission to use the book. Erin Gruwell commented on the controversy, saying, "The best way to get a teenager to read a book is to ban it. When someone who is a daunting authority figure says, 'Give us your book', I think these students [thought], ‘There must be something powerful in these words’.
*FYI. The Diary of Anne Frank is also a banned book.
(1982) Challenged in Wise County, Virginia due to protests of several parents who complained the book contains sexually offensive passages. (1983) Four members of the Alabama State Textbook Committee called for the rejection of this title because it is a “real downer.” (1998) Removed for two months from the Baker Middle School in Corpus Christi, Texas after two parents charged that the book was pornographic. The book was returned after students waged a letter-writing campaign to keep it, and the review committee recommended the book’s retention.

Unreturned library book leads to woman's arrest

Unreturned library book leads to woman's arrest (copied below) was published online day before yesterday (January 24th), but I didn't get around to reading it until just now. I was surprised to learn the book she failed to return was one of the books we discussed here: The Freedom Writers Diary. (Click on the title to read our posts about the book, or click here to read what we said about the book on my Book Buddies blog.)

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa – An Iowa woman has been arrested because she failed to return a library book. Thirty-nine-year-old Shelly Koontz was arrested Thursday night on a fifth-degree theft charge. She is accused of keeping "The Freedom Writers Diary," which she checked out from the public library in nearby Jesup in April. Police say the book — which is about a high school teacher's effort to inspire students to write — is valued at $13.95. Court records show library employees tried repeatedly to contact Koontz by phone and mail. A police officer even visited her home last September. Officials at the Buchanan County jail say Koontz was released after posting $250 bond.

It appears to me this woman "borrowed" the book in order to take it out of circulation, which may be the REAL reason she was arrested. What do you think?

Connie and Tom Heermann ~ this post is for you

I have been posting information about The Freedom Writers Diary ... and about your situation ... on several of my blogs. Tom, I'd be happy for you to comment on any or all of them, as they are for different groups of people:

Bella Novella ~ my face-to-face book club in Chattanooga, Tennessee. This group has already chosen to discuss the book on September 16th.

Book Buddies ~ my online book discussion group with people from all over the world. I suggested we read this one for September, and one has already expressed an interest. (Most accept whatever is suggested.)

And of course here on Banned Books, which you have already seen.

When I read, I take notes. Lately, I've been posting my notes online at my Notes, Quotes, and Questions blog, which is open for anyone anywhere in the world to read. As you see, I haven't gotten very far into it yet, but I'm really enjoying it.

Now for my big questions:

(1) Is there any chance I could call you on September 16th, Connie, to talk for a few minutes with my Bella Novella group? We meet at 7:00 pm Eastern Time, but it would be better if we could talk for maybe an hour and have our questions ready for you about 8:00 pm Eastern Time.

(2) Is there any chance you could say something to the online Book Buddies group during September? This group discusses a book for a whole month, posting thoughts about once a week, so halfway through the month (at your discretion) would be wonderful.

(3) Could you ask Erin the same questions? Maybe I should go to the web site and see whether I can reach her that way, but if you talk to her, it would be nice if you mention me.

Here's my email address (use the named symbols): emerging (dot) paradigm (at) yahoo (dot) com. I will happily email you my phone number, but I don't post it online. Here's my profile ... with this photograph of me.

If any of these would compromise your job or anything, please tell me "no" and I won't bother you any more. However, both groups are very informal and would be excited to hear from you.

Suspended teacher ~ The Freedom Writers Diary

You may also want to read the July 12, 2008 Newsweek article Write and Wrong by Anna Quindlen.

The Freedom Writers Diary by The Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell

I read The Freedom Writers Diary last fall. In light of the current controversy about the book, I'm cross-posting the review I posted on my book blog in October.

Published in 1999. 292 pages.


I had heard good things about and planned to view the movie version of this book before I even knew that it was based on a book. It was when I discovered (through BookGal) the Book to Movie Challenge (hosted by Callista) that I learned about the book - and I definitely wanted to read the book and view the film for the challenge.

I am so glad I read this book! A compilation of anonymous diary entries, the book describes the successes newbie teacher Erin Gruwell had with a group of 150 students at Wilson High School in Long Beach, California, following the Los Angeles riots of 1992. More than anything, I think the book is a testament to the power of words - both those read, such as when Gruwell's students read The Diary of Anne Frank, and those written, as these young people's lives were changed through the keeping of diaries, by being able to tell their stories.

I liked the movie too. I generally enjoy Hilary Swank - Iron Jawed Angels is an all-time favorite - and I loved being given some names and faces for the "freedom writers." I wish the movie had told more of the story - it ended after the student's sophomore year - and a subplot about Gruwell's husband was completely unnecessary (and was not part of the book). (By the way, Patrick Dempsey played the husband, and he also played a love interest for Swank's character in Iron Jawed Angels, a superfluous subplot, not based on the historical account of Alice Paul's life.) But I still was moved by the film, a tribute to the ability of one teacher to change the lives of a group of children.

I plan to read Teach with Your Heart: Lessons I Learned from the Freedom Writers next year for the "In Their Shoes" Challenge.

You might be interested to know that BookGal did not like either the book or the movie, and you can read her thoughts here.

The Freedom Writers Diary ~ by The Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell

Connie Heerman, a 27-year veteran teacher of Perry Township in Indiana, has been suspended for a year and a half for using The Freedom Writers Diary in her classroom. So what kind of book IS this?

As an idealistic twenty-three-year-old English teacher, 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." This book they produced has powerful entries from the students’ own diaries and a narrative text by their teacher.

The book deals with violence, homelessness, racism, abuse and other topics that this group of urban California students lived with. When Connie Heerman (pictured above) allowed her students to read the book, her supervisor -- unhappy with the language and content in the book -- asked her to stop using it in the classroom, even though her students had signed permission slips. When she refused, she was charged with insubordination and eventually suspended through the end of the 2008-2009 school year.

So what do you think? Was she really suspended for insubordination? Or is this an issue of intellectual freedom?

(If you've read the book, please tell us what you thought about it. I haven't ... yet ... but I have put it on hold at my library.)