Before We Were Free (Pura Belpre Medal Book Narrative (Awards))

Rating:
Summary: Great book.
Review: After reading this book I will pay more attention to my parents stories about living through the times of the dictatorship. I recomend this book to all my Dominican brothers & sisters.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting topic, poor writing...
Review: 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 have to stay it was believable for the most part. I only wish Anita had been a bit older, for a think it would have been more interesting to have a 15 or 16 year old telling it to us.

Rating:
Summary: Suspense, love, adventure? This is your book!
Review: As a 6th grade teacher, I like to keep on top of recent novels published for young adults. I read this and found it to be one of the best novels to be written recently for teens. I have also recommended it to many of my students who in turn have read it and have thoroughly enjoyed it as well.
Full of suspense (what will become of Anita and her new love for Oscar? what will become of the family? what will happen to the country?), Before We Were Free keeps students' interest yet does not steer away from good writing. Beautiful writing, suspenseful action, and characters worth caring about make this a book every young adult should read.

Rating:
Summary: Suspense, love, adventure? This is your book!
Review: As a 6th grade teacher, I like to keep on top of recent novels published for young adults. I read this and found it to be one of the best novels to be written recently for teens. I have also recommended it to many of my students who in turn have read it and have thoroughly enjoyed it as well.
Full of suspense (what will become of Anita and her new love for Oscar? what will become of the family? what will happen to the country?), Before We Were Free keeps students' interest yet does not steer away from good writing. Beautiful writing, suspenseful action, and characters worth caring about make this a book every young adult should read.

Rating:
Summary: Truly moving!
Review: Before We Were Free precisely tells us how it is like to grow up underthe dictatorship. It is so scary that they have to live surrounded by the secret police. Yet, the depiction of Anita, the protagonist, is so real that one can feel compassion sympathy toward her. The ending is somewhat sad, but I rather feel the power of human beings to survive.

Rating:
Summary: magnificent
Review: The Dominican Republic occupies the eastern two thirds of an island in the heart of the Caribbean Ocean called Hispaniola. Christopher Columbus claimed this island for Spain in 1492, and it is here that he later returned, died and was buried. Over the years the Dominican Republic has struggled for freedom and independence. They fought for their independence from the nation of Haiti, which lies on the western one third of Hispaniola, and they suffered through the dictatorship of General Trujillo. This book takes place during the last years of the Trujillo dictatorship, in 1960 and '61.

In this book you will meet a colorful cast of characters from many different cultures and backgrounds. First there is Anita de la Torre, the 12-year-old narrator whose life changes dramatically over the course of a few months. You will meet her familia, her parents, siblings, cousins, uncles and aunts, who all live together on the family island compound. As the unusual and dangerous circumstances unfold in the story, many of Anita's relatives are forced to flee their tropical home for the colder climate of New York City. The dictator's men are everywhere. Those who oppose the dictator are often "disappeared" by the men in black, never to be heard from again. Then there are the mysterious phone calls about butterflies and tennis shoes. And just who is "Mr. Smith?"

You will also meet Chucha, Anita's long-time nanny. She is one of the most interesting people in the story. Chucha is from Haiti, wears only purple clothing (even her underwear has to be dyed!), sleeps in a coffin, and has dreams where she can see the future. She also won't go into the Wimpy's Supermarket because the automatic doors have convinced her that the place is cursed and haunted. There is also blond-headed Sammy Washburn, the American consul's 12 year old son, whose family moves into a house at the de la Torre compound. Together, Sammy and Anita, explore the land of the compound - including the mysterious caves and the ancient cemetery. They encounter ghosts, and search for the treasure that was buried on the land many years ago.

Anita may not understand all the political things that are happening in her life, but she certainly feels the fear that permeates her family's life. Parts of the story are told from the perspective of Anita's diary, which provides an even more personal approach to the apprehension she faces. Her favorite uncle, Tio Toni, is missing. Have the secret police in the dark sunglasses, who drive the black Volkswagens, taken him? Has he been "disappeared"? Who is it that she sees lurking around his casita at night?

In spite of all the danger, Anita's parents make a decision to keep their family in the Dominican Republic and work for change. While Anita deals with all the frightening events that are unfolding in her life, she also struggles with growing up and her own personal endeavor for freedom. Before We Were Free is an exciting and fast moving book about growing up in a time of political intrigue and civil unrest. It is about decisions that must be made from the heart rather than the head and the courage that backs up such decisions. The fact that the author experienced much of what she writes in real life makes the story even more real and intriguing


Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: This book really took me into the story. Julia Alvarez does a tremendous job in making you feel exactly how a little girl in those times was probrably feeling. I always loved to listen to my family talk of the time of Trujillo and how much they lost and struggled but Julia Alvarez took me to that time and made me feel everything my parents and grandparents were seeing, and going through. I would especially recommend this book to a teenage girl because it will make her apreciate all the liberties in the United States and other countries that are not in dictatorship.
All I have to say is Thank You Julia Alvarez for writing this magnificent book!