Ada, Alma Flor (1938– ), Cuban‐American writer and professor, who has been a pioneer in the development of multicultural and bilingual books for children and has written the important study A Magical Encounter: Spanish‐Language Children's Literature in the Classroom (1990). Ada writes her own texts in Spanish and English as well as translating and adapting folk tales that emphasize the themes of cooperation, trust, and liberty. Among her important books in Spanish and English are El enanito de la bared (The Wall's Dwarf, 1974), La gallinata costurera (The Little Hen Who Enjoyed Sewing, 1974), La gallinata roja (The Little Red Hen, 1989), La tataranieta de Cucarachita Martina (The Great‐Great Granddaughter of the Little Cockroach Martina, 1993), and Mediopollito (Half‐Chicken, 1995). Dear Peter Rabbit (1994), a unique montage of fairy tales and fables in the form of letters, won the Parents' Choice Honor. The Malachite Palace (1998), one of Ada's original fairy tales, recounts the adventures of a sequestered princess who is not allowed to play with the common people until she is liberated by a tiny bird.
— Jack Zipes
