#Freedom writers book vs novel movie

As a witness, Eva must testify in court she intends to guard 'her own' in her testimony. As Grant storms out, Paco, as retaliation for losing a fight against him earlier during a massive brawl at school, attempts to kill him, but misses and accidentally kills Sindy's boyfriend while Grant flees the scene and is later arrested for the homicide. African American student Grant Rice, frustrated about losing an arcade game, demands a refund from the store owner.

Eva's classmate and rival Sindy Ngor, who is a Cambodian refugee, her boyfriend, and another friend also enter the store. One night, Latin American student Eva Benitez goes into a convenience store while her boyfriend Paco, who is a fellow gang member, and two other friends stay in the car. Erin struggles to form a connection with her students and observes numerous fights between some of them, who are in rival gangs. In 1994 in Long Beach, California, Erin Gruwell has been accepted to teach English for at-risk students at Woodrow Wilson High School-a once highly acclaimed school that has declined since voluntary integration had been enforced and where racial tension has increased since the Los Angeles riots two years before. He was fatally shot at age 18 in Anaheim, California, after a confrontation with a man who robbed Jones of a necklace in a Denny's restaurant. The film was dedicated to the memory of Armand Jones, who was killed after filming Freedom Writers. Durning served as co-executive producer of the film. The idea for the film came from journalist Tracey Durning, who made a documentary about Erin Gruwell for the ABC News program Primetime Live. Supreme Court decision ordering the desegregation of interstate buses in 1961.

#Freedom writers book vs novel movie

The title of the movie and book is a play on the term ' Freedom Riders', referring to the multiracial civil rights activists who tested the U.S. The movie is also based on the DC program called City at Peace. It is based on the 1999 book The Freedom Writers Diary by teacher Erin Gruwell and students who compiled the book out of real diary entries about their lives that they wrote in their English class at Woodrow Wilson Classical High School in Long Beach, California. If you work with middle school students, consider assigning readings from Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl or Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo next year and have students write diary entries reflecting on current events in their worlds.Freedom Writers is a 2007 American drama film written and directed by Richard LaGravenese and starring Hilary Swank, Scott Glenn, Imelda Staunton, Patrick Dempsey and Mario.

Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo by Zlata Filipovic.

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.

Here's a list of books that made a positive impact on the Freedom Writers' lives. (Side note: All 150 Freedom Writers graduated from high school and went on to college.) Reading List Also, 100 percent of the royalties from the book are used for the Freedom Writers' college tuition. It all seems a bit too easy at times, but this was a thoroughly enjoyable read. Gruwell, however, especially about the challenges she experienced along the way as her students went from being at-risk to shining stars. The Freedom Writers' stories are inspirational. to visit they win the Spirit of Anne Frank award and travel to New York City to be interviewed by Connie Chung. Secretary of Education Riley they bring Zlata, whose story touches them, to L.A. Gruwell's classes, the teens become change agents in their community and beyond. The students find hope for their own lives as they learn about other teenagers who have experienced tragedy and hardship. He talks about looking out for guns and gang warfare in his neighborhood and about the friends he's lost. One teenager writes a letter to Zlata and compares the war she lived through in Bosnia to the “undeclared war” in America. She decides to teach a curriculum of tolerance using books such as Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo.Īs the students start to keep their own journals, they find parallels between the characters' lives and their own. Their English teacher, Erin Gruwell, discovers that her at-risk students have never heard of the Holocaust. This book is a compilation of diary entries from 150 high school students in Long Beach, California, who call themselves the Freedom Writers.