num_pages: 192
description: 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?Anita de la Torre is a twelve-year-old girl living in the Dominican Republic in 1960. Most of her relatives have emigrated 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 fight to be free.
language: English
title: Before We Were Free
titlecomplete: Before We Were Free
genres: Middle Grade, Coming Of Age, Realistic Fiction, Historical, Historical Fiction, Cultural, School, Young Adult, Teen, Fiction
ratings_count: 8037
places: Dominican Republic
awards: awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Vermont Golden Dome Book Award, awardedAt: 1009872000000
name: Américas Award, awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Pura Belpré Award
category: Narrative
publisher: Laurel Leaf