This contemporary realistic fiction was paired with Ed Martinez's painterly style illustrations. The pictures throughout the book grab the reader's attention into understanding the emotions going on. We can see the look of admiration and joy when Maria tries on her mother's ring, on to the look of disbelief that this ring must be hidden within one of twenty four tamales.
What makes this story so intriguing is its well defined conflict that is paired with illustrations that enhance the characterization. The plot develops, thickens, and progresses to the point you are left asking: "Are they really going to eat all twenty four tamales?" It is clear to see that children would become engaged in this book to simply find out what happens next.
Teachers should read this story to students between Kindergarten and 2nd grade. Children will enjoy the visible individual brush strokes in each illustration throughout the book as well as the important message there is waiting to be revealed. While reading this story, teachers should ask questions such as: What do you think will happen next? What happened to the ring? Do you think Maria should have taken her mother's ring without asking? Should you tell your parents the truth? Why or why not? What is the moral of this story? What did the story mean to you?
Class activities:
1. Think of three additional recipes you would include with Maria's tamales. Draw a picture of each recipe with crayons/colored pencils/markers and include a short description of what each recipe is and why you think it would be a good additional recipe to Maria's tamales.
2. Make rings out of construction paper, and have fun tossing them into a paper bag titled Masa.
3. Explore the ingredient masa. Give each child the opportunity to feel/stretch/pull/roll the consistency, and smell the ingredient. Afterwards, have each student draw a picture of themselves "kneading" masa.
This is an interesting short tutorial for students to see how tamales are made:
I think this book is extremely beneficial for not only the classroom, but the home as well! Children will love Too Many Tamales as well as these other books written by Gary Soto:
- Chato and The Party Animals
- Living Up the Street
- Chato's Kitchen
- The Old Man & His Door
"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared."
~Buddha
References:
Soto, Gary. Too Many Tamales. New York: G.P. Putnam's
Sons, 1993. Book.
Great blog Erica! I am all about journals to get the creative juices flowing. One of your classroom activities was based around creating a recipe. It would be awesome to share those recipes with the entire classroom and their families. After all students have submitted their recipes the teacher can place those recipes in a binder to be taken home at the end of the month to a student and their family, after getting parental consent. One of the requirements would be to have someone take pictures of the student helping and sharing their adventure with the class. At the end of the year if this is something that you want to continue to do in your class you can share the previous year’s cook book and photos.
ReplyDelete