Book 1: Zlata's Diary

The first book that I chose to read was Zlata's Diary. This book was written in the eyes of a normal girl living her everyday life when war strikes in her country. This event flips her world upside down and everything changes.

About the Book:

Title: Zlata's Diary

Author/Main Character: Zlata Filipovic

Written: 1991-1993

Location: Sarajevo, Bosnia

Main Event: Bosnian War

Plot:

Zlata's Diary is a collection of journal entries written by Zlata's Filipovic. She was just a normal pre-teen whose only concerns were her piano lessons, friends, and grades in school. But in March 1992, everything is about to change for young Zlata. Violence first breaks out at a hill nearby her hose where there is shelling and gunfire, but that was only the beginning. Soon enough, she is spending a lot of time in a cellar for protection, food and water becomes limited, her school closes down, and much more. These things go on for a while. A temporary summer school is opened up and Zlata enjoys being back in school. She also tries to keep up with her piano skills. Sadly, chaos is still all around Zlata and she shares many of her emotions in the Diary. All that Zlata wishes for is that she could have her life back to the way it was. She wants her friends, school, and childhood back, but sadly the war continued on. Then, on July 17,1993, Zlata goes to a promotion for her book made from her diary. Zlata is now famous around the world and her book is compared to The Diary of Anne Frank. The Bosnian War is still going on tough. The book ends when she moves to Paris, France to get away from the war, but Zlata never forgets her old home.

My Thoughts While Reading Zlata's Diary:

Through the story of Zlata in this time got me thinking of many things. Here was a young girl like me who was going through horrors that I could not even dream of experiencing. She spoke of her home town being blown to bits, her old playground being vacant, people she knew whom were being killed. She had so many questions to these events and so did I while I was reading. She was younger at that time than I am now, but she went through much harder things that I will ever encounter. She was such an innocent girl, yet she had to go through these hard things all just because of war.

Evaluation:

I liked this book because it taught me valuable lessons. Zlata's Diary taught me that no matter how hard life can be we need to stay positive and stay strong.

I would definitely read more books by her because of the tone of her writing. How she writes makes the story interesting

and puts things in perspective. I would also red more because I want to hear more about what has happened in her life since her book was published.

Also, I would encourage others to read this book because it was a well written and real life story about the tragedies that have happened in the world. Many people are not aware of the types of things that happen to innocent people which ultimately can be avoided all together.