Four vastly different sisters take on one seemingly omnipresent dictator. Listen up as we discuss this year's Read Across Lawrence book, In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez.
Two Book Minimum:
- In The Woods, opens a new window by Tana French
- Sing, Unburied, Sing, opens a new window by Jesmyn Ward | Coming soon to LPL
- The Color Purple, opens a new window by Alice Walker
- Vern Yip’s Design Wise: Your Smart Guide to a Beautiful Home, opens a new window by Vern Yip
She Said / She Said:
In The Time of the Butterflies, opens a new window by Julia Alvarez, opens a new window
NEA Big Read / Read Across Lawrence, opens a new window
In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez transports us to the Dominican Republic in the mid-twentieth century when the country struggled under the brutal dictatorship of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. A work of historical fiction, the novel honors the lives of Patria, Minerva, and María Teresa Mirabal, who became icons of freedom and women’s rights when they were assassinated in the autumn of 1960 for their role in the underground movement against Trujillo’s regime.
The murders of the three women inspired many in the Dominican Republic to denounce the regime publicly and marked the beginning of the end for Trujillo’s reign. In 1999 the United Nations General Assembly designated the date of the Mirabal sisters’ deaths, November 25, as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
Bookish News
ALA Youth Media Award Winners:
John Newbery Medal:, opens a new window
The Girl Who Drank The Moon by Kelly Barnhill
Randolph Caldecott Medal:, opens a new window
Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat by Javaka Steptoe, illustrated by Javaka Steptoe
Coretta Scott King Book Awards, opens a new window
March: Book Three by John Lewis and Andrew Aydli
Check out Lawrence Public Library’s 2017 Squad Goals Reading Challenge, opens a new window
This episode was produced by Nick Carswell at AudioReader, opens a new window.
You can find the Book Squad Podcast on iTunes, opens a new window, Stitcher, opens a new window, or SoundCloud, opens a new window. Please subscribe and leave us comments – we’d love to know what you think, and your comments make it easier for other people to find our podcast. Happy reading and listening! xo, Polli & Kate
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