Antes de ser libres (Spanish Edition) [Mass Market Paperback]

Julia Alvarez (Author), Liliana Valenzuela (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 13, 2004

Now available in Spanish, the book Horn Book called “a realistic and compelling account of a girl growing up too quickly while coming to terms with the cost of freedom.”

I wonder what it would be like to be free? Not to need wings because you don’t have to fly away from your country?

From award-winning author Julia Alvarez comes the story of Anita de la Torre, a 12-year-old girl living in the Dominican Republic in 1960. Most of her relatives have immigrated to the United States, her Tío Toni has disappeared, Papi has been getting mysterious phone calls about butterflies and someone named Mr. Smith, and the secret police have started terrorizing her family for their suspected opposition to the country’s dictator. While Anita deals with a frightening series of events, she also struggles with her adolescence and her own personal flight to be free.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Alvarez proves as gifted at writing for adolescents as she is for adults. A stirring work of art.”—Publishers Weekly, Starred

From the Inside Flap

Now available in Spanish, the book Horn Book called "a realistic and compelling account of a girl growing up too quickly while coming to terms with the cost of freedom."

I wonder what it would be like to be free? Not to need wings because you don't have to fly away from your country?

From award-winning author Julia Alvarez comes the story of Anita de la Torre, a 12-year-old girl living in the Dominican Republic in 1960. Most of her relatives have immigrated to the United States, her Tío Toni has disappeared, Papi has been getting mysterious phone calls about butterflies and someone named Mr. Smith, and the secret police have started terrorizing her family for their suspected opposition to the country's dictator. While Anita deals with a frightening series of events, she also struggles with her adolescence and her own personal flight to be free.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Laurel Leaf (April 13, 2004)
• Language: Spanish
• ISBN-10: 0375815457
• ISBN-13: 978-0375815454
• Product Dimensions: 4.8 x 0.6 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #49,688 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #2 in Books > Libros en español > Infantil y juvenil > Historia e Historia Ficticia
  • #8 in Books > Libros en español > Infantil y juvenil > Asuntos
  • #20 in Books > Libros en español > Literatura y ficción > Género Ficción > Histórica

More About the Author

Julia Alvarez has bridged the Americas many times. Born in New York and raised in the Dominican Republic, she is a poet, fiction writer, and essayist, author of world-renowned books in each of the genres, including How the García Girls Lost their Accents, In the Time of the Butterflies, and Something to Declare. She lives on a farmstead outside Middlebury, Vermont, with her husband Bill Eichner. Visit Julia's Web site here to find out more about her writing.

Julia and Bill own an organic coffee farm called Alta Gracia in her native country of the Dominican Republic. Their specialty coffee is grown high in the mountains on what was once depleted pastureland. Not only do they grow coffee at Alta Gracia, but they also work to bring social, environmental, spiritual, and political change for the families who work on their farm. They use the traditional methods of shad-grown coffee farming in order to protect the environment, they pay their farmers a fair and living wage, and they have a school on their farm where children and adults learn to read and write. For more information about Alta Gracia, visit their website.

Belkis Ramírez, who created the woodcuts for A Cafecito Story, is one of the most celebrated artists in the Dominican Republic.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Valorar la libertad, August 2, 2008

By 

Abel Gonzalez Galan "Leba nalag" (Lavras, Brazil) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Antes de ser libres (Spanish Edition) (Mass Market Paperback)

Muy buen libro, me hizo recordar momentos que espero nunca mas tener que pasar en mi vida. La libertad es un tesoro, saber que en este momento aun hay muchas personas que siguen sufriendo lo que nosotros los dominicanos sufrimos en esa epoca es injusto. Lo recomiendo a los lectores jovenes para que sepan valorar la libertad en la que hoy viven.Antes de ser libres

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Conmovedor !, March 22, 2011

By 

Ysabel (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Antes de ser libres (French Edition) (Kindle Edition)

Me resulta un poco difícil aceptar que un libro en Kindle tenga practicamente el mismo precio que un libro impreso, pero sea cual fuere la forma que llegue a tus manos creo que vale la pena leerlo. Las historias normalmente son escritas a traves o de o sobre sus protanonistas, pero este libro se sale de esa tendencia: habla de como una niña de escasos 12 años vive los finales de una de las dictaduras mas sangrientas en la historia de los pueblos americanos, la del dictador dominicano Rafael Trujillo. A mi, particularmente, me ha conmovido al punto de soltar lágrimas al final de su lectura.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Novel, December 6, 2010

By 

Roberto - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Antes de ser libres (Spanish Edition) (Mass Market Paperback)

Excellent book! I strongly recommended it.. If you liked "In the Time of Butterflies", you will truly enjoy this book.