Zlata’s Diary, A Child’s Life in Sarajevo by Zlata Filipovic
Zlata’s Diary, A Child’s Life in Sarajevo by Zlata Filipovic has often been compared to the Diary of Anne Frank and it’s a comparison that’s not lost on Zlata herself as she often noted in her diary that she hoped that her ending would be different from that of Anne’s. Fortunately, her ending was different. She survived. While her friends and family died all around her, she survived a war and a childhood that no child should have to survive.
Zlata’s diary begins as any other eleven-year-olds diary would: talk of vacations, friends, school, teachers, MTV, pizza, Michael Jackson, and sleeping in on the weekends. The first entry in fifth grade begins, “Behind me – a long, hot summer and the happy days of summer holidays; ahead of me – a new school year.”
It is just a short month and a half into her journal that the war enters her life:
There’s a real war going on in Dubrovnik. It’s being badly shelled. People are in shelters, they have no water, no electricity, the phone’s aren’t working. We see horrible pictures on TV. Mommy and Daddy are worried. Is it possible that such a beautiful town is being destroyed?
Little does Zlata know but those words echo a prophecy that will soon come true in her own life. It isn’t long before the war moves to Sarejevo. She slowly watches the life that she knew crumble all around her. She readily admits that she doesn’t understand the politics of the war nor why people have to be so cruel as to kill each other.
Zlata’s story is one that is difficult to summarize. I’ve decided that I will randomly pick some passages from the book in a chronological order from beginning to near end. No rhyme or reason to the passages picked. Just opened the page and see where it took me.
I’m watching the American Top 20 on MTV. I don’t remember a thing, who’s in what place.
I feel great because I’ve just eaten a “Four Seasons” Pizza with ham, cheese, ketchup and mushrooms. It was yummy. Daddy brought it for me at Galija’s (the pizzeria around the corner). Maybe that’s why I didn’t remember who took what place – I was too busy enjoying my pizza.
I’m not going to school. All the schools in Sarajevo are closed. There’s danger hiding in these hills above Sarajevo. But I think things are slowly calming down. The heavy shelling and explosions have stopped. There’s occasional gunfire, but it quickly falls silent. Mommy and Daddy aren’t going to work. They’re buying food in huge quantities. Just in case, I guess. God forbid!
Two shells exploded in the street and one in the market. Mommy was nearby at the time . . . Daddy and I were besides ourselves because she hand’t come home . . . We kept going to the window hoping to see Mommy, but she wasn’t back. They released a list of the dead and wounded. Daddy and I were tearing our hair out. We didn’t know what had happened to her. Was she alive? . . . I looked out the window one more time and . . . I SAW MOMMY RUNNING ACROSS THE BRIDGE. As she came into the house she started shaking and crying. Through her tears she told us how she had seen dismembered bodies . . . Thank God, Mommy is with us. Thank God. A HORRIBLE DAY. UNFORGETTABLE. HORRIBLE! HORRIBLE!
I have another sad piece of news for you. A boy from my drama club got KILLED! A shell fell in fron the community center and a horrible piece of shrapnel killed him.
Today is Alma’s birthday . . . We had a super time, but . . . .I looked out the window and saw a flash. . . BOOM!! Shattered glass, falling plaster . . . The birthday party wasn’t bad, but it would have been better if that shell hadn’t spoiled it.
. . . we are living in fear, we are suffering, we are not enjoying the sun and flowers, we are not enjoying our childhood. WE ARE CRYING.
Well, I don’t want to write out the whole book for you but suffice it to say that this is a book that I will long remember. And it’s one that I was constantly questioning what I was doing in my safe, sheltered life while Zlata was living a nightmare. A nightmare of constant fear, hunger, coldness, hiding, and where getting water is a life or death feat. I believe that I’m only a year older than Zlata so seeing the dates really put a perspective on the book. She was even a huge New Kids on the Block fan! Despite our shared commonality because Zlata lived in another part of the world her childhood was war torn while mine was much different.
Books like this are always worth reading. Now I’m off to find out where she is now . . .
Genre: Young Adult, Non-Fiction/Diary
Publisher: Scholastic. January 1994
Paperback, 200 pages. ISBN: 0590487922
Zlata’s Diary, A Child’s Life in Sarajevo is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.
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Category: Book Reviews, History/World Events, Nonfiction, Picture Books
Tags: Bosnia, E-H Author, Sarajevo, U-Z Title, war
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This sounds like a must read. I keep wondering when we’re going to learn from history and stop subjecting children to lives like that.
on August 21st, 2009 at 6:03 pmWhoa, only one year separated from you in age? Sounds like one I need to read.
on August 21st, 2009 at 7:19 pmI had this book as a kid…I think I read it when I was in 4th or 5th grade!
on August 21st, 2009 at 8:08 pmI remember reading this in late elementary or middle school shortly after it was published. A great book for kids to learn what happens to other kids in the world.
on August 21st, 2009 at 8:35 pmThis war really brought home to me how things can change from one day to the next.Usually we see wars waging in Africa where nothing is really developed and you think it will never happen here.For goodness sakes we have an infrastructure and a developed economy,tv,schools,everything.But watching movies on this war where the one day people were going to work,and the next friendly neighbors had turned on you,your home bombed.I realised it can happen anywhere and that is still a scary thought,how thin the line between civility and chaos.I am going to get this book.The one chapter about worrying where the Mom was got me emotional as it is so close to home.Thanks you for this review!!
on August 21st, 2009 at 10:00 pmThank you. I enjoyed the quotes, because they really brought out the tone of the book. The last one is very sad. Perhaps I will have to pick this one up sometime.
Have fun at the UT book blogger party tomorrow. I wish I could be there, but I’m looking forward to the pictures you take.
on August 21st, 2009 at 11:28 pmNatasha, are you having another party? I loved hearing about the last one, and look forward to pictures and stories from this one!
It is heartbreaking to read about children who lost their innocence to war. I read so many of these stories from WWII. What amazes me always is the strength of their spirit, though, and how so many of them seem to rise above it all. If you find some good info on this girl, let us know!
on August 22nd, 2009 at 3:06 amI read this when it was first published and remember being very taken by it. It is excellent read. I no longer remember the details.
on August 22nd, 2009 at 7:08 amMy mom used this (or maybe a book similar to it) in her English as a Second Language class. The kids, who were from outside the USA, really related to a girl in a challenging situation like that.
on August 22nd, 2009 at 7:49 amThis sounds great. Kids have such an amazing take on violence when it occurs. Great review!
on August 22nd, 2009 at 8:50 amI remember reading this when I was a young teen! It was my favorite book at the time, I remember I did a presentation in class about it! It seems so long ago… Glad to see you enjoyed it too!
on August 22nd, 2009 at 9:33 amI remember reading this when I was younger. My mother bought it from a book fair at school – she would do this every month in attempt to try to get my read more (I hated reading when I was little). But I remember having a difficult time putting this book down because, well, it moved me! I wanted to get to the end to find out that, god willing, Zlata would be okay despite the fact that her worry free childhood days had been stolen by the atrocities of war. The book is captivating and definitely worth reading. Thanks for the review and reminding me of this little gem of a book.
on August 22nd, 2009 at 2:16 pmHaving just returned from Croatia last evening, I can tell you this book haunted me while I was there….just listening and observing and discussing with people this period in the life of that area was quite disturbing. Thank you for reaching back and bringing this book to people’s attention again!
on August 22nd, 2009 at 2:40 pmI read this book when I was a teenager. Thank you so much for reminding me of it! A fantastic, haunting read. Next time I’m at my parents house I’m going to have to fish that out of the piles and piles of books in the basement…
on August 22nd, 2009 at 3:28 pmThis sounds brutal and amazing and touching and so real. I’m so glad to hear she survived … but it just rips my heart apart to think of this going on during my lifetime. I always think of stuff like this happening in the past.
on August 22nd, 2009 at 6:24 pmOh wow! I hadn’t heard of this book before. I think I will be logging on to Amazon shortly to make a purchase. This looks like one that will stick with you for a long time.
on August 23rd, 2009 at 12:26 amMan, this conversation is making me feel like the baby of the group.
We read this in school when it came out and it is, I kid you not, why my concentration in college was the Balkans. Ok, there were other reasons, too, but I remember this as a definite turning point. It’s incredibly sad but it’s also war. I’m glad that it’s coming back around. Really, everyone should read it.
on August 23rd, 2009 at 5:15 amI actually bought this book recently at a library booksale. I’m glad to see it’s worth reading!
on August 23rd, 2009 at 6:38 amI remember reading this book in high school and rereading it in college. I really, really liked it. Zlata also wrote the foreward to a book called The Freedom Writers: How a teacher and 150 students Used Writing to Change Themselves and The World Around Them by The Freedom Writers & Erin Gruwell. It too is an amazing read – a teacher working in a high risk high school, used it is one of the books for her class. Either Zlata came to the US or the students went and met her in Croatia I can’t remember.
on August 25th, 2009 at 8:18 pmI never heard of this book but thank you for bringing it to my attention. This is an event in history not many people speak about.
on August 26th, 2009 at 1:41 pm[...] Zlata’s Diary, A Child’s Life in Sarajevo by Zlata Filipovic [...]
on September 13th, 2009 at 8:07 pm