Childrens Book Review of Too Many Tamales: Christmas Eve Story by Gary Soto

On the day before Christmas, Maria’s mother allows her to:

• Apply adult lipstick and perfume;
• Don the best apron;
• Help make masa (corn-based dough) for tamales.

Maria’s mother answers the telephone and takes the call outside the kitchen. Maria espies her mother’s diamond ring on the counter. She fits it onto her thumb. Maria and her mother get the dough finished. Maria’s father gives the center of each dough-covered husk meat. Each dough-covered, meat-filled husk has to be folded securely before being dropped into the steaming pot. In her bedroom, Maria is the pre-dinner hostess to cousins Danny, Dolores, and Teresa while Aunt Rosa and her husband and Maria’s grandparents remain downstairs with Maria’s father and mother.

Maria and her cousins cut newspaper pictures of toys that hopefully are inside the boxes under the Christmas tree. Maria decides to cut out a pearl necklace. She quickly exits screaming about a ring. The cousins follow Maria to the kitchen. Maria gets help devouring 24 tamales. Eating two each goes fine. But everyone has over-full stomachs by the time that only one tamale remains. The cousins each have careful bites before Maria eats the last bit of the twenty-fourth tamale. Teresa is sick to her stomach while Danny claims to have swallowed something hard. Adults and children join to make Christmas Eve’s 24 tamales after Maria sees the diamond sparkling as usual on her mother’s finger.  

Too Many Tamales benefits from the expertise of:

• Patrick Collins as book designer;
• Ed Martinez as illustrator;
• G.P. Putnam’s Sons as publisher;
• Gary Soto as writer;
• South China Printing Co. Ltd. as printer.

Typeset in Berkeley Oldstyle, the text cooperates with parents, readers, and teachers seeking resources amenable to:

• Cultural enrichment;
• Educational entertainment;
• Holiday customs;
• Literary analysis;
• Spanish language-learning.

Librarians and teachers generally give for Too Many Tamales a literacy classification of:

• Ages 4 – 8+;
• Grades preschool through third grade.

But the timelessness and timeliness of the storybook’s characters, dialogues, plot, and setting go beyond its original publication in 1993. The deep truths regarding familial interactions and the gentle humor respecting holiday temptations indeed have universal applicability.

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

In tamale making, the float test determines the readiness of the masa (maize dough).
If a dollop of dough floats, then the dough is ready. A sinking dollop indicates the need for more liquid and more kneading or beating.
"¡Ya está la masa!" ("The dough is ready.") Corn husks soak in water (lower right) until wrapping.: Martha Silva (marthax), CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/marthax/4684547102/

In "Too Many Tamales," tamale making is a family affair, with Maria's father steaming the tamales.
Tamales: Filling is spooned into center of wrapper prior to boiling or steaming in large pot. Tamalera is special large pot for steaming tamales.
corn husk wrappers for Christmas tamales mexicanos: Pixeltoo, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tamales_mexicanos_navidad2004.jpg

In "Too Many Tamales," Maria's last view of her mother's diamond ring is on her own little hand as she prepares tamales, working masa as filling for corn husks.
solitaire diamond ring: nanana_nono, Free for commercial use; No attribution required, via Pixabay @ https://pixabay.com/photos/ring-gemstone-diamond-jewelry-6768987/

"Auntie Reads Too Many Tamales" (7:20)
Uploaded November 19, 2013, by LetsRd2Gether to YouTube ~ URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rH07LmKXM0

"Scholastic's Too Many Tamales (Español)" (12:55)
Uploaded December 19, 2017, by Scholastic Storybook Treasures to YouTube ~ URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh93wj_uP9s

“Making Inferences, Too Many Tamales.” TeacherVision: Teaching Methods and Management > Teaching Methods and Strategies > Lesson Plan. Boston, MA: Family Education Network. Retrieved December 12, 2014.

• Available at: https://www.teachervision.com/lesson-plan/reading-comprehension/48613.html

Soto, Gary. 1993. Too Many Tamales. Illustrated by Ed Martinez. New York, NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons.

“Too Many Tamales.” Reading Is Fundamental: Literacy Resources > Booklists > Multicultural Books > 2011-12 Multicultural Booklist (Grades Pre K-5).  Retrieved December 12, 2014.

• Available at: http://www.rif.org/us/literacy-resources/multicultural/too-many-tamales.htm

“Too Many Tamales!” The Stacks. Scholastic Inc. Retrieved December 12, 2014.

• Available at: http://www.scholastic.com/browse/book.jsp?id=175