Anita de la Torre never questioned her freedom living in the Dominican Republic. But by her 12th birthday in 1960, most of her relatives have emigr...
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Jan 24, 2012
Celine
rated it: 
Before We Were Free
By Julia Alvarez
192 pp USA
Laurel Leaf, $6.99
ISBN: 978-0-440-23784-6
“I want my children to be free, no matter what. Promise me you’ll spread your wings and fly,” her father said to Anita. Unfortunately, flying would mean going against the authorities of the government, authorities who clip wings, in a rough battle.
This book is a triumph for freedom despite great lost. Anita, who lives in the Dominican Republic, struggles with More...
By Julia Alvarez
192 pp USA
Laurel Leaf, $6.99
ISBN: 978-0-440-23784-6
“I want my children to be free, no matter what. Promise me you’ll spread your wings and fly,” her father said to Anita. Unfortunately, flying would mean going against the authorities of the government, authorities who clip wings, in a rough battle.
This book is a triumph for freedom despite great lost. Anita, who lives in the Dominican Republic, struggles with More...
Dec 01, 2011
Anjaliparmar
rated it: 
This award-winning novel “Before we were Free” by the author Julia Alvarez comes down to a story of a twelve-year old named Anita de la Torre living in the Dominican Republic in 1960. A place with tall palm trees and beautiful sights with tropical warm water. It’s where you’d want to experience paradise.
But in this dramatic novel, Anita and her family are disrupted by the departure of the cousins moving to America. Along with the mysterious disappearance of the handsome young uncle, and More...
But in this dramatic novel, Anita and her family are disrupted by the departure of the cousins moving to America. Along with the mysterious disappearance of the handsome young uncle, and More...
May 28, 2011
Stephanie
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This is a historical fiction young adult novel set in the political oppression of the Dominican Republic of the early 1960s. The author, Julia Alvarez, presents the life of a family torn apart by the attempts of freeing the Dominican Republic of its dictatorship and striving to keep their family together. The story is told through the 12 year old character, Anita, and her confusion as to what is happening to her, her friends, and her family. Anita also struggles internally as she emerges out
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May 15, 2011
Nicolewinter2011
rated it:
Pubblisher: Dell Laurel-Leaf
Year: 2002
Interest Level: Grades 8-12
Reading Level: Grades 7-9
Julia Alvarez is the author of this text. She left the Domincan Republic as a child, but writes this story from the perspective of a girl who did not leave before the horrific events took place in the Domincan Republic in the early 1960's. The protagonist of the story begins as a pre-teen and her coming of age story is woven through this text, as her world sped up the loss of her More...
Year: 2002
Interest Level: Grades 8-12
Reading Level: Grades 7-9
Julia Alvarez is the author of this text. She left the Domincan Republic as a child, but writes this story from the perspective of a girl who did not leave before the horrific events took place in the Domincan Republic in the early 1960's. The protagonist of the story begins as a pre-teen and her coming of age story is woven through this text, as her world sped up the loss of her More...
Mar 06, 2011
Esther
rated it:
Published in 2004 by Laurel Leaf
Interest Level: 7th-9th Grade
This novel is about a family that is in the Dominican Republic during a political revolution between the 1930s and 1960s. The protagonist, Anita, and her family are liberal, educated, upper class citizens in the Dominican Republic. Under the dictatorship of Trujillo, her parents are part of a resistance group that plans a coup and eventually must escape the Dominican Republic, although not all her family members are a More...
Interest Level: 7th-9th Grade
This novel is about a family that is in the Dominican Republic during a political revolution between the 1930s and 1960s. The protagonist, Anita, and her family are liberal, educated, upper class citizens in the Dominican Republic. Under the dictatorship of Trujillo, her parents are part of a resistance group that plans a coup and eventually must escape the Dominican Republic, although not all her family members are a More...
Feb 28, 2010
Tanya
rated it: 
This book was very different from the other jistorical fiction book I've read. In some ways the author brought things into her book no other ever dared to do. I enjoyed the book because it's beginnning didn't agonize much, in fact it didn't have a lot of background info because in her view, nothing was wrong. The book went like this throughout the book which is why in a way more emotion was brought out because others would have been able to act. Where as she couldn't, she wasn't told anything an
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Dec 05, 2009
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jan 24, 2012
Raquel
rated it:
Excellent YA novel. Treatment of this subject by a child narrator actually makes it even more immediate and frightening, because the 12-year-old protagonist, Anita, was often confused and scared due to not knowing exactly what was going on. When she finally did learn more about what was happening in her country and to her family, it felt even more emotional and painful. She hadn't realized that dictator Trujillo was reviled by many people, including her parents, until the events in the book bega
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Nov 28, 2011
Alexia
rated it:
This was such a wonderful little book.
Writing from the perspective of the main character, a twelve-year-old girl, really helped me to become attached to the characters and to better understand the fear, frustration, and confusion that she was feeling. She has to deal with both the mind-blowing, heart-wrenching events that are shattering her world and her emerging adolescence and puberty.
When I finished reading, I had to sit there for a few moments and really absorb everythi More...
Writing from the perspective of the main character, a twelve-year-old girl, really helped me to become attached to the characters and to better understand the fear, frustration, and confusion that she was feeling. She has to deal with both the mind-blowing, heart-wrenching events that are shattering her world and her emerging adolescence and puberty.
When I finished reading, I had to sit there for a few moments and really absorb everythi More...
Apr 07, 2011
Amy
rated it:
Before We Were Free - Julia Alvarez - (2002)
Life in the 1960s in the Domican Republic was terribly difficult. After years of being ruled by an oppressive, dictator many people were anxious for liberty. This story is told from the perspective of 12 year old Anita, whose family is among the anxious. While her grandparents and cousins flee to the United States, Anita, her parents, and her siblings stay behind. This is a terrific novel that introduces children to another culture and political More...
Life in the 1960s in the Domican Republic was terribly difficult. After years of being ruled by an oppressive, dictator many people were anxious for liberty. This story is told from the perspective of 12 year old Anita, whose family is among the anxious. While her grandparents and cousins flee to the United States, Anita, her parents, and her siblings stay behind. This is a terrific novel that introduces children to another culture and political More...
Apr 19, 2011
Rll520a_gaylehassan
rated it:
Because I have read "In the Time of the Butterflies" and part of "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez, this book felt very familiar. Like "Day of Tears" by Julius Lester, this book deals with man's inhumanity to man. In this case, it is an oppressive dictatorial regime taking away even the most basic human rights of the people of the Dominican Republic. This story is also a coming of age story in which the main character, Anita, becomes
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Sep 26, 2009
Sara
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Feb 08, 2010
Linda
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Anita is a young teenager whose large extended family all live happily on her grandfather's compound until the dictatorship of the Dominican Republic threatens the lives of those she holds dear. So one family at a time moves off the compound to United States as it becomes too dangerous to continue living there. Except hers. During the next few months her family must stay and secretly fight for the freedom of the nation. She watches and listens as the Resistance takes foundation in her home,
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May 12, 2011
Q_Jill
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This book is about a girl named Anita and her family who live in the Dominican Republic under the dictatorship of General Trujillo. The family is terrorized by the SIM because of their involvement in a plot to assassinate the El Jefe. Anita's sister and cousins leave for the United States to escape. Anita and her family end up living under house arrest and Anita's father and cousin are taken prisoner by the SIM for their involvement. Anita and her mother have to go into hiding. This book is
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Jul 20, 2009
Ash R.
rated it:
This book is about a teenage girl who is horrified because her next move might be the worst. This girl is scared and uncomfortable all the time because she never knows when the police might break down the door and search. The police can take away her brother, or father unexpectedly!! She lives with a fear anywhere she goes she is a very closed up person.
I can make a text to text connection somehow to Copper Sun a class novel my 7th grade class read. I can connect because More...
I can make a text to text connection somehow to Copper Sun a class novel my 7th grade class read. I can connect because More...
Jan 29, 2012
Jackie
rated it:
Set amidst the backdrop of the political upheaval and turmoil in the Dominican Republic in 1960, Before We Were Free is the fictionalized account of one family's struggle for survival, safety, and eventually freedom. Anita de la Torre has never questioned her freedom, that is until she hears Papi and Mommy whispering about butterflies, Mr. Smith, disappearences of loved-ones, and police terrorism. She fears for her Papi and Tio Toni who seem to be part of an uprising and a plot to overthrow the
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Feb 15, 2011
Nancy
rated it:
Published: 2004, Laurel Leaf
Age: 12 and up
Anita is a 12 year old girl living under a dictatorship in the Dominican Republic in the early 1960’s. She lives in a compound that houses her extended family and she goes to an American school. She is happy and her family does well financially. She is a typical young girl who likes to go to parties, write in her diary, and has a crush on a blond American boy next door. But gradually, she watches as one by one her family starts to flee to the More...
Age: 12 and up
Anita is a 12 year old girl living under a dictatorship in the Dominican Republic in the early 1960’s. She lives in a compound that houses her extended family and she goes to an American school. She is happy and her family does well financially. She is a typical young girl who likes to go to parties, write in her diary, and has a crush on a blond American boy next door. But gradually, she watches as one by one her family starts to flee to the More...
Sep 10, 2010
ci546_Ali Cullerton
rated it:
Years ago I read a book about the multicultural approach to education entitled Beyond Heroes and Holidays. When I first read the book, I found the title intriguing, but it has taken years of experience as an educator in various settings for me to understand the phrase in a deeper way. In many schools, diversity and culture are approached as a unit or lesson. Rather than embrace cultural diversity and use multiculturalism as a tool in both interdisciplinary and group discussion formats, it seems
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Sep 20, 2011
Lindsey
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Apr 13, 2009
Anita de la Torre, the main character of the book, lived in a world where the people she knew slowly disappeared. This situation in Dominican Republic not only paralyzed her relationship with her father but also forced her to live a life full of dangers.The current president of the country wanted to take young women for his own purposes. Anita, being one of the women that the tyrannous president had set eyes on, becomes the the reason why her family is constantly visited by the secret police. An
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(1 person liked it)
Apr 07, 2009
This is a story about a 12 year old girl named Anita. Along with living a difficult a young life filled with problems regular teens have to be free and there own person, she has to go through unimaginable things. She is living in the Dominican Republic where most of her family members have already emigrated to the United States. Her family in which has stayed, faces various difficulties such as her uncle disappearing (Tio Toni), as well as having her family terrorized by Mr. Smith and the secre
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Oct 01, 2011
Yvette
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A good book told from the point of view of a girl who lives through the terrors of a dictator's regime. It's about the struggles that her family, friends, and country suffered at the hands of their President, Trujillo. It definitely makes you sympathetic to what others had to do to in order to gain the freedom that we sometimes take for granted. As a Latina I laughed at loud at some of the stories, phrases, and typical "Latin Mother's" attitude.
Had I not read Alvarez's oth More...
Had I not read Alvarez's oth More...
Jul 26, 2009
Cathy
rated it:
Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez is the story of Anita de la Torre, a twelve-year-old girl living in the Dominican Republic in 1960. Although her family lives in a family compound, most of her relatives have emigrated to the United States because of their suspected opposition to the dictator, El Jefe. The adults around her are trying to keep their secret meetings from her, but she still finds herself a part of frightening events.
This little historical fiction just took me by surp More...
This little historical fiction just took me by surp More...
Jun 02, 2009
Kelly
rated it:
I guess I either love or hate Alvarez' work. I really liked In the Time of Butterflies and How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent, but I really disliked Saving the World (it had great potential, but...). This book is good for teens because it shows what life is like for the oppressed. My problem with the book is the convention Alvarez uses to teach the reader of this oppression. Anita (Alvarez said she chose the name to honor Anne Frank and Anita keeps a diary like Anne)is young (both literally
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Sep 15, 2010
Krystal
rated it:
I have to admit that this is my favorite novel of all times. The story takes place in the Dominican Republic when Trujillo was the dictator. In the novel, Anita de la Torre must go through the passing from childhood to adulthood within days. Everything is going fine for Anita until her quinceanera. A quinceanera is when a young lady is becoming an adult and in the Dominican Republic it is a celebration of new age. At this party Trujillo had his eye on her the whole time. Trujillo was a horribl
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Apr 12, 2011
I enjoyed reading this, especially right after reading Number the Stars (similar themes and some overlap in plot, but in a different historical setting). It is the story of a girl trying to grow into a woman in a time when her world and her sense of reality is crumbling. The theme of freedom and what it means to be free is recurring and is considered through the eyes of a girl growing into a young woman who must struggle to understand how sometimes there is a layer of lies in what we come to bel
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Feb 01, 2009
T. Denise
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I loved this book although it was very emotional. After reading it, I am definitely more attuned and sensative to social issues (i.e. students/children growing up in a dictatorship). After reading the author's note, I was speechless as Alvarez reminds us that the story "could have taken place in many dictatorships in Nicaragua, Cuba, Chile, Haiti, Argentina, Guatemala, El Salvador, or Honduras." What a chilling reminder of skeletal history that was really recent in time.
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Jul 24, 2011
2003- Anita's like most girls her age, except she lives in the Dominican Republic under a bloody dictatorship. Not knowing anything about this time in history, I was excited to read this book. Anita learns her family in smack dab in the middle of the uprisings against El Jefe. However, I found the fact that things such as exclamation points being overused (there was like one every page!) sort of annoying. However, the author provided some very interesting and intense moments as well. I would hav
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Aug 04, 2011
Bianca
rated it:
"You can't be brave if you're not scared." Good Book but I liked Julia's In the Time of the Butterflies Better. This is a teen read but I think it can be easily enjoyed as an adult as well. The story follows the life of a family involved in the underground attempt to overthrow the dictator in the Dominican Republic from the 1930's-60's. The main character is a young teen and it follows how she feels living a far from normal social life. We learn what it is like to live your life as a c
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Sep 23, 2011
JakeShs12
rated it:
I thought that this book was just OK. It is about a girl living in the Dominican Republic who fears having to leave, due to a ruthless dictator. I thought this book would be 3 stars because in the beginning, I thought that it didn't really go anywhere. There was a lot of dull moments in this book, and I think that there should have been a little more action. I don't think that the book kept me on the edge, and did not make me want to read it non-stop. I think it took too long to get to an exciti
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