Author: Pat Mora
Title: Dona Flor
Illustrator: Raul Colon
Readability score: Kindergarten to Grade 2
Genre: Fiction
Subgenre: Tall Tale
Theme: Things aren't always as they seem. Use your talents and abilities to help others.
Primary and secondary characters: Dona Flor, Pumito
Awards: IRA Teachers' Choice Award
Date of Publication: 2005
Publishing company: Alfred A. Knopf
ISBN number: 0-375-82337-9
Dona Flor was a giant. She could speak to the animals. Dona Flor helped her friends when they were late for school by carrying them all the way. She built her own house out a the mountains. She made tortillas that could be used as a boat. The townspeople were plagued by a terrible cat who roared so loudly. They asked Dona Flor to find the cat and save the town. She went looking for the cat but never found it. It continued to circle the town and roar. Flor decides to ask her animal friends for help. They tell her to go to the tallest mesa. Dona Flor goes and finds a tiny puma roaring into a hollow log. That was why the cat sounded so big! She plucked the cat up and decided to call him Pumito. They became good friends. That night they slept on the clouds.
Dona Flor is a perfect example of a bilingual children's story. This story could be used to introduce students to the Spanish language and culture. I would use this story with ELL students who are struggling to transition from Spanish to English. This story combines both languages. Spanish students would appreciate this story and non-Spanish students would be introduced to Spanish words and culture.
Dona Flor was a giant. She could speak to the animals. Dona Flor helped her friends when they were late for school by carrying them all the way. She built her own house out a the mountains. She made tortillas that could be used as a boat. The townspeople were plagued by a terrible cat who roared so loudly. They asked Dona Flor to find the cat and save the town. She went looking for the cat but never found it. It continued to circle the town and roar. Flor decides to ask her animal friends for help. They tell her to go to the tallest mesa. Dona Flor goes and finds a tiny puma roaring into a hollow log. That was why the cat sounded so big! She plucked the cat up and decided to call him Pumito. They became good friends. That night they slept on the clouds.
Dona Flor is a perfect example of a bilingual children's story. This story could be used to introduce students to the Spanish language and culture. I would use this story with ELL students who are struggling to transition from Spanish to English. This story combines both languages. Spanish students would appreciate this story and non-Spanish students would be introduced to Spanish words and culture.
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