From: Kathy Isaacs <kisaacs>
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2004 11:47:26 -0500

Both BEFORE WE WERE FREE and CUBA 15 were BBYA books in their respective years.
    I loved the Alvarez book for its richness. Survival in the Dominican Republic during the Trujillo years was difficult for political opponents and the splintering of Anita's family is predictable and disturbing. I liked the way her increasing physical maturation was matched by her increasing socio-political awareness. Some of the survival aspects were reminiscent of the Ann Frank story
-- a good hook for readers advisory. Not all adult writers take their young adult audience as seriously -- I appreciated that in this book, as well. Nancy Osa's CUBA 15 was a bit creaky at the seams. Some important things happened without justification, or off stage. Just the same it was a sweet book with engaging characters, a slow building romance, and an interesting description of the preparations for a quinceanero -- an event that looms large in the mind of our Hispanic students but is not well known by their American classmates. I appreciated Violet's mixed heritage and her openly stated need to learn more about her Cuban side. It's funny, too! Both these books deserve a wider audience.

-Kathy Isaacs Edmund Burke School kisaacs at mindspring.com
Received on Sat 20 Mar 2004 10:47:26 AM CST