Too Many Tamales

This book is about a family during Christmas time, making tamales. The mother and daughter were making the dough for the tamales and the mother put her ring on the counter. The daughter saw how beautiful it was and how it had such a sparkle, she tried it on. Then she returned to kneading the dought

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with her hands and the ring was mixed into the dough. Other family members arrived at the house and exchanged gifts while the daughter had forgotten all about her mothers ring. The daughter and her cousins were all nervous and scared about the ring so, when the tamales were done all kids ate the tamales and tried to feel something hard. When all 24 tamales were gone, no ring. When the girl was walking to her mother to confess to her she noticed the ring was on her hand. The family returned to the kitchen happily and making jokes to make more tamales.

This book is great for children who have a Hispanic background or for children who have large families. The illustrations and color of the book really caught my eye.

In a classroom, this book would relate to children with the Hispanic ethnic and for the children who are not exposed to this type of culture, we could have a culture day and learn about the different kinds of culture and even have food from the cultures.

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This book is about a girl named Maria. She wants to help her mom make tamales for Christmas. Her mother doesn't want to get her diamond ring messed up so she takes it off. Maria decides secretly that she wants to wear it. Then after all the tamales were made she realizes she lost it. So later on

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they find it.

I liked this book because I enjoy cooking from strach. I also liked it because of the wonderful pictures. This book reminds me of life because there are always going to be accidents in life and more than likly everything will be okay no matter how stressed out you are at the time.

In the classroom, I would have the children write a journal entry on how they can relate to this book, a time they had something in their life go wrong but evenually it all worked out.

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This book is about a family getting together to have tamales and while the children were helping out, one of the lost her mother's ring in the tamale mix. At least she though she did, so her and her cousins ate almost all of the tamales to see if the ring was in any of those.

I really like this

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book just because I can somewhat relate to them. I've never lost a ring in a tamale, but I always help my grandma making tamales.

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This book is about a family that is making tamales. The mother takes off her ring so it doesnt get dirty. Her daughter takes it, puts it on, and then loses it. They think they lost it in the tamales, so they eat All of the tamales. They learn later that the mother found her ring.

the students could

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make up recipes that could use in different countries.

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This book is a wonderful example of traditions in a family. The children could not wait for all the tamalies to be made and when they were done they enjoyed eating them as a family.

I like this book because it gives a good sense of different cultures traditions. Children do not realize how other

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people do things in different places and this is a wonderful example of that.

The children could bring things into class to make tamalies. They could also write a receipe for a kind of food they would like to have as their family tradition.

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"Too Many Tamales" is a relateable story about a little girl, who gets herself into a little trouble. She tries her mom's ring on while kneading masa for tamales. She forgets about the ring until the tamales are made. When she and her cousins see the platter of tamales, they hurry to help her eat

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them, trying to find the ring inside. After eating all of the tamales, she realizes that the ring is nowhere to be found. She goes to find her mom and tell her the truth about what had happened. To her surprise, the ring is on her mom's finger.

I loved this book because I have had a similar experience with my daughter. It was bread not tamales. Bread actually cleans a ring up quite nice!

Classroom extensions for this book would be to teach about spanish heritage and the making of tamales. This would also be good for a unit on honesty.

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Contemporary realistic fiction: This book is about a young girl named Maria who decided to help her mother make tamales for their family for Christmas. Maria decides to try her mothers wedding ring on while helping make the tamales. Eventually the ring falls off Maria's finger and gets mixed in

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with the tamale mixture. Later Maria is upstairs with her brother and sister looking at magazine's when she realizes that the ring is no longer on her finger so she panicks and tells her brothers and sisters what has happened. Maria tells her brothers and sisters to each eat tamales until they find the ring. When they do not find the ring after eatting all the tamales Maria is worried that her brother Danny had the ring in his tummy because he ate the last tamale. Maria tells her mom what had happened and Maria's mom showed her that the ring was on her finger and they make more tamales so the rest of the family could eat.

I think this is an awesome story to read to children during the holidays because this book is about spending time with family at Christmas.

This story can teach children to make better decisions. By reading this book teachers and parents can tell children what they could have done if this were a real situation. This book can also teach children to ask someone before they take something from somebody else because what if they lost something from that either cost a lot or was very precious to someone.

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Maria is helping her mother make tamales for Christmas. She feels so grown-up because her mother let her wear makeup and perfume. All the time she is helping her mother make tamales she can't keep her eyes off her mother's beautiful ring! She wants to wear it so bad, but she didn't dare, or did

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she? As soon as her mother leaves the room she takes it and places it on her finger. Maria thinks it is so beautiful. She continues making the tamales and totally forgets she has it on her finger. Soon her family arrives and she runs off to play with her cousins. She notices the ring is missing. There was only one explanation. She lost it in the tamales..but the tamales are in the oven! As soon as they come out her and her three cousins have to eat every single one of them to find the ring! So they begin. The eat and eat to there are no more tamales left and there is no ring either. Scared and upset Maria decides to tell her mother. Her mother knew, she knew the whole time. She was wearing the ring. Maria is relieved.

I really enjoyed this book. It brings back memories of my childhood when I did something I knew I was not suppose to be doing. Like Maria, I never came out how I wanted it too.

This book was based on honesty. You could have the student's write about what they would have done if they were in Maria's shoes. Would they have taken the ring or left it alone? Would they have told their mother? Also you could have the student's research the Hispanic culture and see what types of foods they cook on certain holidays.

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Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age Appropriateness: primary
Media: oil
Characterization: Maria is a round dynamic character. You find out about her personality and excitement at the beginning of the book. She immediately brings you into her world of dressing up and helping her mother make tamales. By the

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end of the book she has changed from a carefree girl who simply loves dressing up and looking grown up, to someone who takes responsibility for her actions and acts grown up. She doesn't simply cover up her mistakes, but learns from them and changes her way of thinking.
Plot: person against self
Review: This is a great book of realistic fiction because the situation Maria finds herself in is very similar to what many children might find themselves in. The scenarios in the book are ones that many families face. This makes it very believable.

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This book was about a Hispanic girl, Maria who lost her mother's ring. Maria was helping make tamales when she tried on her mother's ring and forgot about it. Later that night she realized she didn't have it on anymore and was in hysterics because the ring was in the tamales. Her cousins helped her

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look for the ring, without any luck.

My daughter asked me to read this book to her without looking at the picture on the book. I opened it up and she said "Oh this is about the girl loosing the ring!" She had already heard it, but I read it to her anyways and I really enjoyed this book. It was funny how she and her cousins looked for the ring. The illustrations in this book really make you feel as if you are standing there with Maria and feeling exactly what she is feeling by her facial expressions.

I would read this to my class at Christmas time. I would teach them the song "Feliz Navidad." I would also have my class learn how to make tamales and already have some made so they could have them for a snack.

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In the multicultural book, Too Many Tamales, Maria discovers the true meaning of family. The story begins with Maria finally being old enough to help her mother make Christmas tamales. During the story, Maria decides to play with her mother’s diamond ring and loses it. After her and her cousins

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eat all of the tamales, realize their misjudgments and confess their shortcomings, the entire family decides to make another batch of Christmas tamales.

I enjoyed this book about a little girl trying to act grown up. It reminds me of my children when I am baking or sewing. My children always seem to want to help me and are extremely tickled when I allow them to help me in my activities. Just like Maria’s mom in this story, I have also had to deal with my children creating issues in their imitations.

I fun activity for students would be to allow them to make tamales after reading this story. Doing this would allow the students to use their math, reading, and cooperation skills. It would also provide a tasty reward for my students when we finished making the tamales. Another way to implement this book in the classroom would be to have the students do a picture walk with the teacher before reading the book and predicting what the story is about.

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Too many Tamales is about a family of hispanic decent. They are making tamales together and the two children think they have dropped a piece of their mothers jewelry in the tamale mixture and end up eating too many tamales.
This book is great . I love how this book explains what children would

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actually do. I remember in my childhood that I ate a whole cake with my brother to find an earing that I stole off my moms dressor. We got really sick and I found the earing in my bed. So this story relates alot to me.
I would use this story if I was teaching morals in class. I would have it in an honesty section to where they would understand that you need to just be honest and tell the truth. I would also use it when teaching about different cultures. You could use this when explaining all the different foods around the world.

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This book is about a little girl named Maria who wanted to help her mom make tamales for Christmas Eve gathering with the family. Maria's mother had a beautiful diamond ring that Maria loved and while making the tamales she took it off. Maira could not control herself and tried the ring on and

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continued to make the tamales. She realizes the ring is gone and thinks its in the tamales they made and gets her cousins and herself to eat them all to find it. She realizes her mom has the ring and everyone helps to make more tamales.

I liked this book because it is very festive and shows the true spirit of the holidays with this family. It shows how to deal with a bad situation and it all still works out for the best.

This book could also be used in many ways in the classroom. It is based on Christmas so it could be in the holiday unit. You could use it for a mulitcultural unit and with that unit you could have a parent come in and help the kids make tamales just like the kids in the book.

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This is also a really cute multicultrual book. It is about a Mexican family. I really like books by Gary Soto, he is a very talented writer.

Too Many Tamales is a humorous book about a Hispanic family making tamales. Maria saw her mother’s diamond ring placed on the kitchen counter and tried it on without permission. Maria began kneading the masa, dough made out of dried corn, and accidently lost the ring. Maria gets distracted and

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forgets to find the ring in the masa. When Maria finally remembers the ring, the tamales are all done and ready to eat. Maria insist her cousins help her eat the tamales in hopes of finding the ring. The children eat all twenty four tamales with no luck. Maria is so sad and angry at herself and realizes she has to tell her mom what has happened. Maria is relieved to see the ring on her mother’s finger, she had found it in the masa and been wearing it the whole time. The family finds it quite funny and make fun of Maria and her cousins for the rest of the night.

As a future teacher, my classroom is likely to be diverse. This is a great book for Hispanic children to relate to. Other children who are not Hispanic could learn a little about Hispanic food and tradition by reading Too Many Tamales.

Children in a classroom environment could learn how to make tamales as a class after reading this book. They could then have a party and invite their families to eat a Hispanic dinner. The children could make other Hispanic foods as well. This would be a great book to introduce international foods, Children in the class could discuss the foods their family eat at family gatherings. The teacher could then research the food and discussthe history of the foods with the class.

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In this story, a young girl named Maria tries on her mother’s wedding ring while helping make tamales for a Christmas dinner. While she is kneading the masa, dough, the ring slips off. Later, Maria is nervous when she realizes that the ring is missing and has to confront her mother. This book is

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great to use during Hispanic heritage month or during the Christmas holidays. It teaches students about the Hispanic culture and their holiday traditions.

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The story of a little girl who is helping her family prepare for a traditional Christmas celebration with extended family. While she is helping her mother make tamales, she sees her mother's diamond ring on the counter. When her mother leaves the room, she decides to try on the ring. Later she

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realizes the ring is gone, and she enlists the help of her cousins to help eat all of the tamales in a frantic effort to locate her mother's ring.

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Maria is so happy that her mother let her war her apron and is letting her help to knead the masa for the Christmas corn tamales. When her mother takes off her diamond ring so it won't become coated with the messy masa, Maria decides to put it on. Later that night, after all the tamales have been

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cooked and after all her cousins and relatives have arrived, that Maria suddenly realizes what must have happened to the precious ring. Maria desperatly tries to make her family memebers eat as much as they can to find the ring.

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Come celebrate Christmas with the different traditions. Enjoy tamales instead of cookies.

This book is about a family that is making A LOT of tamales. The mother takes off her ring so it doesnt get dirty. Her daughter takes it, puts it on, and then loses it. She and her cousins panic! They think they lost it in the tamales, so they eat ALL of the tamales. They learn later that the

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mother found her ring.

I liked this story, it sounds like something I would do. I love tamales, this story made me hungry.

We would talk about food from other coutries. This one is obviously Spanish food. We would have a day where we make a few Spanish dishes and ate them as a class.

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"Too Many Tamales" is a humorous story about a little girl, who wanting to imitate and be like her mother gets herself into trouble. She tries her mother’s ring on and begins to knead dough for tamales. She loses the ring while kneading, and doesn’t realize it until it is too late and the

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tamales have already been made. With her cousins’ help she attempts to find the lost ring by eating all of the tamales. After the last tamale has been eaten she sadly goes to confess the truth about what had happened to her mother, but her mother has something to share with her…

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This book is about a little girl who helped her mother make many tamales. But while her mother was gone on the telephone, Maria picked up her mother's wedding ring and wore it. She took it off and kept kneading the masa. The whole family arrived for Christmas Eve and everyone began talking and

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children playing. Maria thought she cooked the ring in the tamales so her and her cousins began eating all the tamales to find her mom's ring. Her mom ended up having the ring on her finger and all the cousins and Maria had full bellies of tamales.

I liked the illustrations in this book and the moral of the story was good. I was not a fan of the book, however. I felt it was a bit stereotypical about Mexicans.

If I were to utilize this book in my classroom I would begin by starting a conversation about what we should and should not play with. Such as mom's jewelry, dad's things, or your siblings things. I am a huge tamale fan so I would use this story on a Friday and have a Show and Tell and bring in tamales.

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"Too Many Tamales" is about a Spanish family tradition of making tamales for Christmas dinner. While making the tamales, Maria sees her mother take off her wedding ring and set it to the side. Maria decides to try it on just for a minute but the next thing she knows, she lost it and thinks it is in

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the tamales. After her and her cousins eat every last tamale, the ring is still missing and when she finally decides to confront her mother, the sparkling ring is on her mother's finger.

This story is a good lesson on honesty. I like the way the story uses the Spanish tradition but still incorporates a message that can be relatable to anyone. This is a great story and I would recommend it to anyone.

This book can be introduced when teaching lessons on honesty or responsibility. It could also be incorporated when using lessons on multicultural books. It would help the Spanish students feel like they have an equal place in the classroom.

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Just looking at the picture on the cover, you can imagine how the story is going to go.

Poor Maria. SUCH a big girl - helping out, wearing lipstick, a dab of perfume... why not wear her mother's ring as well?

Why not? Because when you can't find it, you'd BETTER find it. And yes, she tries to find it

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in the only way possible. By eating every. single. tamale.

Even for a picture book, I refuse to spoil the ending. But the ring does (eventually) get found, and the family has a happy holiday regardless.

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