Doña Flor

Dona Flor: A Tall Tale About a Giant Woman with a Great Big Heart by Pat Mora
Illustrated by Raul Colón
2005

     "When Flor was a baby, her mother sang to her in a voice sweet as river music."  It made the corn plants grow tall as trees and when Flor heard it, it also made her grow and grow, until she became a giant.  At first children laughed at her because she was different, but soon enough they all realized how helpful she could be and how kind and generous she was.  She would make tortillas for the whole village and open her doors to every person, animal and plant.  She loved her village and they loved her back.  One day, Flor noticed that all the villagers had stayed indoors. She went around asking what was happening and they told her they were afraid because they could hear a huge mountain lion circling the village.  For days Flor tried to cheer up her friends but they were too worried about the mountain lion.  So Flor decided to go looking for it and when she finally found him, he was a little puma, who was roaring into a long, hollow log that made the sound echo down into the valley.  Doña Flor befriended the puma and brought peace back to the village.
     Dona Flor: A Tall Tale About a Giant Woman with a Great Big Heart is poetic, sweet and entertaining.  The illustrations by Colón are gorgeous.  There are words in Spanish intermittently included in the narration which ads to the feeling of the text.  Great read aloud to include in a multicultural curriculum and in any classroom/home for that matter.