Suggested Reading Materials
Before your arrival, it is highly suggested that you check out the following 2 books:
1. In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez. This novel is largely non-fiction, telling the story of the Mirabal sisters, four young women who were murdered during Trujillo’s regime for their political activism. In the Time of the Butterflies is a beautiful story, and is one of the more famous novels penned by a Dominican author.
2. Why the Cocks Fight by Michelle Wucker. This book offers a lot of great historical background into Dominican-Haitian relations and other issues facing the island of Hispaniola.
Other relevant reading material:
By Julia Alvarez:
YO! (Julia Alvarez)
Before We Were Free
In the Name of Salome
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents Something to Declare
A Cafecito Story
Saving the World
The Woman I Kept to Myself
A Gift of Gracias: the Legend of Altagracia Finding Miracles
How Tia Lola Came to Visit (Stay Glimpses of La Yaquita)
Secrets of Salsa
The Other Side
The Secret Footprints
Seven Trees
Homecoming
By Edwidge Danticat:
Farming of the Bones
Krik? Krak?
After the Dance
Behind the Mountains
Butterfly’s Way
The Dew Breaker
We Are Ugly, But We Are Here
Breath, Eyes, Memory
Various authors:
Mountains Beyond Mountains - Tracy Kidder
The Feast of the Goat - Mario Vargas Llosa & Edith Grossman
The End of Poverty - Jeffery Sachs
How Can I Help? Stories and Reflections on Service - Ram Dass & Paul Gorman And Now You Can Go - Vendela Vida
Other Peoples’ Houses - Lore Segal
Let it Rain Coffee - Angie Cruz
1. In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez. This novel is largely non-fiction, telling the story of the Mirabal sisters, four young women who were murdered during Trujillo’s regime for their political activism. In the Time of the Butterflies is a beautiful story, and is one of the more famous novels penned by a Dominican author.
2. Why the Cocks Fight by Michelle Wucker. This book offers a lot of great historical background into Dominican-Haitian relations and other issues facing the island of Hispaniola.
Other relevant reading material:
By Julia Alvarez:
YO! (Julia Alvarez)
Before We Were Free
In the Name of Salome
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents Something to Declare
A Cafecito Story
Saving the World
The Woman I Kept to Myself
A Gift of Gracias: the Legend of Altagracia Finding Miracles
How Tia Lola Came to Visit (Stay Glimpses of La Yaquita)
Secrets of Salsa
The Other Side
The Secret Footprints
Seven Trees
Homecoming
By Edwidge Danticat:
Farming of the Bones
Krik? Krak?
After the Dance
Behind the Mountains
Butterfly’s Way
The Dew Breaker
We Are Ugly, But We Are Here
Breath, Eyes, Memory
Various authors:
Mountains Beyond Mountains - Tracy Kidder
The Feast of the Goat - Mario Vargas Llosa & Edith Grossman
The End of Poverty - Jeffery Sachs
How Can I Help? Stories and Reflections on Service - Ram Dass & Paul Gorman And Now You Can Go - Vendela Vida
Other Peoples’ Houses - Lore Segal
Let it Rain Coffee - Angie Cruz