Turning Pages:  Journals and Diaries 

The pages of a diary can hold secrets.

They can record a trip to a new place or an adventure with an old friend.

They can be filled with ordinary things, like what you ate for breakfast or how much the movie costs.

They can tell you about yourself - or someone else.

They might be made by thousands of people or only one.

A diary can be big or little, fancy or plain, long or short, old or new.

Diaries are private books, but sometimes people are willing to share them.  

They offer a glimpse of what something or someone was really like, without being fixed up or made to sound pretty.

If you don't know the writer, reading a diary can be like reading a mystery.  Because daries aren't written for other people to read, characters aren't introduced but just appear with no explanation.  You get to figure out who's who and what's what.

Looking through a diary is a little like meeting the person who wrote it, at least for a few minutes.  

In a history book, the author writes about what other people did.  But in a diary, you get to hear the story first-hand.

Of course, diaries aren't always as well organized or as easy to find as history books, but they're worth looking for

Experience The Holocaust in one of the most well known  diaries in history,  Anne Frank.  

        "...I don't want to set down a series of bald facts in a diary like most people do, but I want this diary itself to be my friend, and I shall call my friend Kitty!" - Anne Frank (June 20, 1942, first entry for that day)

Zlata's Diary:  A Child's Life in Sarajevo provides us with yet another window of a child's view of war.

        "Dear Mimmy, I'm trying to concentrate so I can do my homework, but I simply can't.  Something is going on in town.  You can hear gunfire from the hills." - Zlata Filipovic (Sunday, April 5, 1992)

Library of Congress  American Memories Collection documents our history through photographs, diaries, journals, letters, and recordings.  These are primary sources!  You might wish to view Japanese Internment Camps to sample what is available.

Now check the LVMS South Library OPAC (only available in school).    Search for "diaries" and "journals".  There are many fiction and nonfiction titles to choose from.

Created by Barbara Swetits
Last updated 02/19/2004

Resources:
Anne Frank:  Turning Pages - Journal Writing http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview.cgi?=1019

Teaching Genre:  Journals and Diaries. Scholastic Professional Books