Dona Flor: A Tall Tale about a Giant Woman with a Great Big Heart

This wonderful story of "Mrs. Flower" is beautifully written. It is a tall tale on the lines of Paul Bunyan, as far as a folk hero is concerned. Dona Flor is wise, and eager to befriend everyone in her little pueblo. This story is about compassion, friendship, and bravery. The illustrations by Raul Colon are exceptional! This is a wonderful read aloud tale.

Who doesn't like a good gigantic woman tall tale? From to Anne Isaacs', "Swamp Angel" to Lynne Bertrand's, "Granite Baby", I would dare say that there isn't a single poorly written picture book out there featuring a huge female. "Dona Flor" is no exception to that rule. Illustrated by the truly original Raul Colon and written by the prolific Pat Mora the story is not a wholly original one, but it's just well-written enough to deserve the praise it's received. A winner of the 2006 Pura Belpre Medal for Illustration and the Pura Belpre Honor for Narration, the story is a lovely series of small adventures by a larger than life gal. If a person grows large plants by singing to them, then shouldn't the same logic apply to babies? Sure enough, when Dona Flor's mother sang to her little girl, that same babe grew and grew and grew. Our first image is of Flor washing her face with the snow of a nearby mountain. Able to speak to animals of every kind, she may have been considered different from the other kids but when it came to getting to school on time there was no one better to catch a ride on. When she was grown up she allowed everyone in her home, whether animal or person. One day the villagers are scared out of their wits by the deafening roar of a mountain lion. When the wind starts making a fuss as well Flor gets him under control with a big old hug. Finally, Flor finds the source of the giant cat's cries. Seems a puma has set up a somewhat clever hollow log device that blasts its voice over the countryside. Flor befriends the little kitty (little to her) then she and all her animal friends settle in for the night on some comfy fluffy clouds. It takes one or two reads of the book to really get a feel for Mora's style of writing. At a first glance I found the wording to be a little herky jerky. Then, as I eased into it, I found that Mora was just following the standard tall tale format already so familiar with other folk heroes. There's also no denying that it is singularly satisfying to see a hero who is a beautiful, strong, woman of Hispanic heritage. Flor's both lovely and ultimately capable. In this way, Raul Colon has undoubtedly created his nicest book yet. It's obvious that nobody draws like Raul Colon. His style of watercolor washes, etching, and colored and litho pencils offers us images with an amazing amount of depth and texture. You wouldn't think texture would be all that important in a picture book done with colored pencils, but when Colon combines all his different techniques the result is simultaneously dreamlike and yet somehow realistic too. His Dona Flor, for her part, is truly lovely. I can only imagine the delight Pat Mora must have felt when she saw Colon's illustrations for the first time. She's a lucky woman indeed. There are some fun parallels that you can draw between this book to other tall tales. For example, there's a moment when Dona Flor is making tortillas. The tortillas are so large t

In a charming tale set in the American Southwest, Dona Flor is larger than life. Flor's mother sang to her corn plants and they "grew as tall as trees" and "when she sang to her baby... Flor grew and grew too"; eventually Flor towers over her village, as big-hearted as her body. At first the children are intimidated, but they grow used to Flor, who is always willing to help them out. She makes tortillas every morning, the extra ones convenient for roofs; "children float[ed] around on tortilla rafts". There is no end to Flor's creativity. When first they hear the ferocious growls of a huge gato, a mountain lion, the villagers run to Flor for help. She who can even tame the roaring wind can surely save them from this new threat. While the children cower inside their homes, afraid to venture out, Flor searches for the fierce creature, but cannot find him anywhere. She turns to her animal friends- Flor can speak any language, including that of the animals- and asks for their assistance. "Go quietly to the tallest mesa", Flor is told. At the mesa, Flor discovers the source of this fearsome animal's braying, a tiny, but very clever puma. The illustrations, a combination of color washes, etching and colored and litho pencils, give Dona Flor a brilliant intensity, the villagers tiny as they follow her around, happy beneficiaries of her bounty and endless generosity. A bridge between the imagination and the natural world, Dona Flor links the two, a giant lady with a heart to match. Luan Gaines/ 2006.

Good reading skills or parental assistance will lend a wider age range to the lovely tale Dona Flor: A Tall Tale About A Giant Women With A Great Big Heart by Pat Mora. Raul Colon's gorgeous drawings lend to the captivating tale of a giant lady who lives in a tiny village in the American Southwest. A friend of kids, she plays and reads with them and even protects her beloved neighbors when a terrifying animal threatens the village. Spanish words and phrases pepper the story.