By:
Erin Gruwell
Grade Level:
Erin Gruwell’s (1999) first young adult novel The Freedom Writers includes journal excerpts from her first-year students at Wilson High School in California. These compelling entries disclose the lives of these adolescents and exhibit their progress over the span of four years. Mrs. Gruwell faces a group of “at-risk” teens and inspires them to accomplish great things. The reader lives vicariously through the perspectives of these students through their tales of courage and achievement.