The author of the book “The Freedom Writers” is Erin Gruwell and the freedom writers. It takes place in the early 1990s until the late 1990s. The book is about how a teacher (Mrs. Gruwell) changed the mindset of a group of students. She used experiences and things that they could relate to too help them be motivated and interested in learning. She told all of her students to write in their journal everyday. These journals were published into a book that is now known as the freedom writers book. The Freedom Writers became well known for their enthusiasm for an education. Mrs. Gruwell got the idea of the method of teaching these students after one day intercepting a racist drawing from one of her students. This leads her to talk about Anne Frank and Zlata. Zlata was about a girl by the name of Zlata who was living under siege in Sarajevo. Mrs. Gruwell slowly began to earn the students trust.

There were a couple of differences and similarities between the book and the movie. A major difference is that while the movie was set around Erin Gruwell, the book mainly focused on the students and their writings. Also, the book is just journals from the students telling about their experiences from past and present. The movie uses more of a storyline. Another difference is that in the movie they went really in depth with Mrs. Gruwell’s personal life more than they did in the book. In the book Mrs. Gruwell was featured only several times usually at the beginning of a new, chapter.

There were many similarities between the movie and book. One of the similarities is that it kept the main idea in both the book and movie. In both the book and movie the students get to have the woman who helped hide Anne Frank come and speak. Also, in both the book and movie the racial drawing is what sparked Mrs. Gruwell’s method for teaching the students. In both the book and movie Mrs. Gruwell has to earn the students trust. Also, in both the book and movie the students are surrounded by gang violence and racism which affects their lives. They both give a background story on most of the students and how their lives had been before Mrs. Gruwell came. It also showed in both the book and movie how people and teachers doubted her abilities to teach the students and her struggle throughout that.

I believe that the movie was much better than the book. The movie gave you more of an understanding of what was going on. Also, the way the students were portrayed and how the events took place kept you more interested. The movie to me told the story of the freedom writers the best. You kind of lose interest in the book because its nothing but journal entries from students and Mrs. Gruwell. Also, the movie gave you a visual aid of everything. It was hard to use your imagination with the book. So, overall I would most definitely recommend the movie to anyone. You learn a lot from both the book and movie. Every teen should read it.