Very similar to the Diary of Anne Frank.

A series of raw journal entries from a young girl living in Sarajevo during the Bosnian War. Reading the things she witnessed and lived through broke my heart for her and all the other children who lost their childhoods to the war.

I'm not giving this a rating because I don't really know how you give a rating to someone's personal thoughts and writings in a diary. Especially when the person is living through a war.

One of the main reasons for (re)reading this book for me was because my cousin's wife lived in Bosnia during the war as well. Because I do not know her story (I think it is very difficult for her to talk about), I wanted to read Zlata's Diary to have at least some idea of what life was like for a child/teen at this time. It's definitely hard to believe that someone just years ago had to live how Zlata, her family, her friends, and the rest of the people in Sarajevo and Bosnia did.

Rating a diary is difficult, but after reading some reviews I’m just perplexed at how harshly people judge a child’s account of having her childhood ripped out from under her by war. Unless you’ve been through it and suffered you cannot really understand. I haven’t, but I can be empathetic enough and try to imagine how having to ration food, water, and other resources would be.

The way the community supported one another and sometimes shared what they had made me think of my current life and how I barely know my neighbors. Most Americans probably never utter more than the standard chit-chat.

It wasn’t thoroughly detailed account of the politics since her parents attempted to shield her from the news and talking opening about it to preserve as much innocence of her youth.

I was disappointed at how it ended since the war was still ongoing. Maybe there is a different version of the book that expands her diary? I would liked to see how it resolved and Zlata, her family, and community recovered.

As a child, I had no idea this was going on and Zlata is just a year older. How shielded and unaware I was, having a normal childhood while many people suffered and continue to suffer due to the stupidity of wars.

i was going to say something about lacking depth, but I DONT WANT YOU TO YELL AT ME. I GET IT.

I'm re-reasing this having just been to Sarajevo, I was given the book when it was first published, and I was 15 (a year older than Zlata). Incredible and moving diary. I may add to this review when I finish it again......

I'm glad this book exists -- I'm glad that Zlata wrote her experiences, that she survived the war, and that her diary provides a glimpse into war through the eyes of a child. I hope that chronicles like this will make the adults in charge think twice before they start blowing things up.

At the time, Zlata was often referred to as the "Anne Frank of Sarajevo," but the comparison isn't really apt. Yes, both girls were around the same age, writing about war, and allowing their writing to be published. But Anne Frank was a much more precise, detailed record-keeper than was Zlata, whose diary reads more like a "typical" adolescent's diary, with lots of telling instead of showing, multiple exclamation points used for emphasis rather than just the right words, etc. I don't want to come across like I'm judging an 11-year-old's writing as if she is an adult. She's a good 11-year-old writer, and her diary is valuable for the human face it brings to political suffering. But it seems Zlata never really understood the political reasons for the war, and so the reader has to go elsewhere for that as well. Still, I think she did a good thing for herself, her family, and the world when she decided to keep and share her experiences, and I'm glad that her story had a much happier ending than Anne Frank's (although I don't think any story touched by war can ever really be characterized as "happy.")

An interesting book. Quick read, a perspective worth reading.