Author Study Book: Dona Flor

Title: Dona Flor
Author: Pat Mora
Publication: 2005

Dona Flor is a tall tale about a woman saving her town, a Spanish village. The giant woman has a kind heart and saves her town from what the people thing is a large mountain lion. It turns out the cat is just stuck and needs help from the giant woman. She can speak to all the animals and helped the cat  return to its home. You can see the Spanish influence throughout the book through different elements. For example, the main character has Latino features, the setting takes place in a Spanish town and there are elements like tortillas and a focus on family that tie in the Latino aspects to the book.

Pat Mora went out on a limb in creating a Latino inspired tall tale with a female as the main character.  This exemplifies her literary activism in wanting to give both women and Latinos a space in literature. She definitely is a role model to me, because I am very much for women's rights and multi-culrualism. Both of these aspects greatly influence her writing and has thus lead to an increased awareness of Latino culture and women in books.

If I were to use this book in the classroom, I would present it with a lesson plan on tall tales. I would then present other tall tales like Paul Bunyan and compare/contrast to Mora's version. We would discuss how the main characters differ like Paul being male and strong, while Dona Flor is female, strong, kind and all-knowing. Lastly, I would have my students find other tales that represent other cultures. In conclusion, I would teach them that while these stories may differ, they are all just as important. We should study all different types of cultural literature, so we can come to understand different heritages and ways of life.