Dona Flor

Mora, Pat. 2005. Dona Flor: A Tall Tale About A Giant Woman With A Great Big Heart. Random House. New York, NY. ISBN 0375823379

This tall tale is about a giant girl who uses her uniqueness to help the people in her town. Dona Flor makes tortillas, helps kids to school, reads books aloud to all who will come to listen, and rids the city of a “roar” that has become a nuisance. Pat Mora seamlessly blends the English text in Dona Flor with a splash of Spanish phrases. This blending style lends itself to a great lesson on using context clues to determine the meaning of words since she always gives enough clues to help the reader figure out what each Spanish phrase means. The illustrations in this book are very distinct. Each illustration looks as though the pixels on a graphic have been magnified and blended together. The distinctiveness of the illustrations are eye-catching and include many different designs and textures.