Multi-cultural: Too Many Tamales

Too many tamales tells the story of a girl named Maria and her mother making tamales, and while they were doing so Maria put on her mothers wedding ring. She did not realize the ring was gone from her finger until after the tamales were already on the stove cooking. To avoid telling her mother, Maria and her cousins ate all the tamales hoping to find the ring. After eating all 24 tamales, no luck. Maria then decided to tell her mother what had happened only to see her mother wearing the ring. 

The author does a good job at expressing the theme of the story and explaining the tradition of Maria's family making tamales fro Christmas. He also does a good job at explaining words that we may not understand, such as the word masa. The illustrations also go along well with the story, they emphasize the multicultural aspects we see throughout the book such as the clothes the characters wear. 

Motivational Activities:

1) Have students identify artistic elements throughout the story.

2) Have students identify what elements make this book multi- cultural.

Reader Response Questions:

1) Why did Maria put her mom's ring on?

2) Why did Maria's family come over to her house that day?

3) Why did Maria not tell her mom she had lost her ring?

Soto, G., & Martinez, E. (1993). TOO MANY TAMALES. Putnam.