Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo

Zlata writes as any girl would write, in the beginning. The early part of her diary (it begins in September 1991) deals with ideas about school starting and what happened last summer. Short entries into a girl's diary, not too deep, somewhat interesting but also very typical. She could be any girl in any city in this country. She talks about her friends, her favorite TV shows, her music lessons, and enjoying pizza.

She is 11 years old.

But in less than a year, all of that changes.

She is writing letters and entries recounting horrible events of warfare. Less than a year after she was wondering about the top songs on MTV and her music and friends, she was writing profound letters of love, life and survival.

She recounts hiding in dark, ugly cellars, and hearing bombs dropping, and being very afraid. She writes of her friend Nina who died in of shrapnel in the brain -- another 11 year old girl, just like Zlata. They went to kindergarten together, they played together. Now Nina was dead.

Zlata and members of her family escaped to Paris by December 1993; the diary ends at that point. Zlata grew up tremendously, much as Anne Frank did, during those few years of the war. She learned the terminology and dangers of war as well as any professional soldier. She learned the horrors and deprivations. She also remained a little girl, with her childish, childlike hope for peace for all.

She escaped, but how many didn't? Published in 1994 while there was still fighting in Sarajevo, this is a book of hope. And sadly the fighting hasn't stopped in that part of the world. Children have lost parents, siblings, family members, friends, and their whole way of life.

It is for them that Zlata wrote her diary. We should remember them.


Zlata's Diary is a clear and concise portrayal war life.   May 7, 1999
6 out of 7 found this review helpful

The book Zlata's Diary is a touching and in- depth portrayal of the life of a scared and innocent child during the war. The details of the day to day living and the suffering they endured are eye opening and frightening. The story is one that should be read throughout schools across the world to bring light to the realities of war. Maybe books like this should also be required for politicians to read when they are sworn ito office. This might create a concern for the people of the world and broaden the politicians' visions on life. The concern for any and everyone's life should come before the selfish political concerns of world leaders. All in all, Zlata's Diary is a clear and detailed portrayal of the life of a helpless family and young girl during the war.


A little girl's recollections of the war in Bosnia.   August 16, 2005
Kevin M Quigg (Carol Stream, Illinois United States)
5 out of 7 found this review helpful

How does war affect people. If you read Zlata's Diary, you will find out how war has affected a little girl. Her friends move away, one friend is shot, and there is the lack of electricity, food, and water. She notices that her parents visibly age as the war progresses. Everybody is under tremendous pressure. She spends many days couped up in her apartment without seeing daylight. Snipers shoot into her bedroom making it unsafe. This is the sad fact of war and how it affects civilians. Zlata shows the world the inhumanity of warfare and its affects on children.
One thing not talked about is who Zlata is...Muslim, Serb, Croat. I know the reason why this was left out. It was to show the effects of war on children regardless of enthicity. Other than the reader's curiousity on this, this is a sad story on what warfare really does to people.


It's a diary, not a book.   May 4, 2007
Medina (Florida)
5 out of 7 found this review helpful

To the reader who wrote comment "we all had our delusional moments when we were teenagers"...you should be ashamed of yourself. This "delusional moment" was war and struggle for survival in besieged city of Sarajevo.
Why don't you try and write a book, and/or diary, sitting in a basement without food, water and electricity for four years. All that while granates and bombs are raining on your city. In the meantime, one by one, all of your neighbors and friends are gone six feet under...
How about that for delusional moment...