Before We Were Free

• Genre: Fiction; middle grade historical
• Originally Published: 2002
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 890L; grades 7-9
• Structure/Length: 11 chapters; approx. 192 pages; 5 hours and 20 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: Twelve-year-old Anita de la Torre struggles to be free while living in the Dominican Republic in 1960 under Rafael Trujillo’s dictatorship.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Violence; dictatorship

Julia Alvarez, Author

• Bio: Born in New York City in 1950 but returned to her parents’ native country, the Dominican Republic, shortly after her birth; at 10 years old, escaped the Dominican Republic with her family during the Trujillo regime; earned a master’s degree in creative writing from Syracuse University
• Other Works: Return to Sender (2009); Finding Miracles (2004)
• Awards: National Medal of Arts (2013); F. Scott Fitzgerald Award for Excellence in American Literature (2009); Pura Belpré Award (2004); Hispanic Heritage Award (2002)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• Perseverance Amidst Trauma and Loss: Family as Home and Community
• The Limits of Faith

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Develop an understanding of political and historical contexts regarding the Trujillo dictatorial regime in the 1960s Dominican Republic that impact the freedom of the protagonist, Anita, and her family.
• Analyze short paired texts and other resources to make connections via the text’s themes of Perseverance Amidst Trauma and Loss and Limits of Faith.