Too Many Tamales

Soto, Gary. 1993. TOO MANY TAMALES. Illustrated by Ed Martinez. California: Hampton-Brown Books. ISBN 1-56334-704-0.

PLOT SUMMARY
While making tamales with her mother, Maria secretly places her mother's diamond ring on her thumb and admires its beauty. It's not until much later that she remembers that she never return the ring to it's spot, thus realizing it must have gone into the tamale dough! With the help of her cousins, they eat their way through the tamales to find her mother's ring.

ANALYSIS
It is encouraging to see Mexican Americans in a positive light. In Too Many Tamales, the illustrator, Ed Martinez, places the Mexican American families in a warm home that is beautifully decorated with numerous wreaths, a Christmas tree with abundant gifts underneath it, and cousins and uncles dressed in season. The olive skinned little girls wear their dark, long hair with beautiful over sized bows. Adding to the cultural authenticity of the setting, Soto tells us that when her uncles, aunts and cousins arrive at her home, “Maria kissed everyone hello.” This is a ritual that is embedded into Mexican American and Hispanic families.

Not counting the word tamale, two Spanish words are used in the book: masa and niña. In context and with the help of the illustrations, we understand its meaning, “Maria returned to kneading the masa, her hands pumping up and down. On her thumb the ring disappeared, then reappeared in the sticky glob of dough.” Soto could simply have used the word dough, but using the word masa – makes the story much more authentic. Dough might be equated with pastries, but masa produces nothing pastry-like. In this instance it refers to a slightly salty enclosure for a meaty inside.

There is not an overload of cultural images presented in the illustrations, but rather Martinez provides illustrations that capture snapshots of items possibly found in Mexican American homes. Students of Mexican or Hispanic cultures will relate to the Manteca and Masa packages. These are staples in the making of authentic tamales. These are found in my mother’s home to this day! Martinez also does a fantastic job of showing emotion in the faces of the children. Their eyes are opened wide and mouths are open in disbelief once the children understand the ring might be inside the tamales.

The illustrations nicely portray the entertaining story Soto tells us. The story begins with a bonding moment between Maria and her mother and quickly escalates as Maria realizes she probably left her mother’s ring in the tamale masa. Upon a closer look, I realized that Maria never actually explains to her cousins her theory of the disappearing ring. The readers read Maria’s thoughts, “The ring is inside one of the tamales, she thought to herself.” Her cousins agree to tell Maria if they bite into something hard. Twenty four tamales later, nothing appears! It’s hilarious to see three children eating away at the tamales, while Maria stands over them and instead of being grateful, scolds them for being tired of the taste.
“The first one was good, the second one pretty good, but by the third tamale, they were tired of the taste.”
So it is true that you could have too much of a good thing! A math teacher would be quick to produce math problems out of the situation. How many dozens were on the plate? If there are four children and they each ate the same number of tamales, how many tamales did each child eat?
The story ends as Maria tearfully and remorsefully confesses to her mother. Nevertheless, Maria is not scolded, but rather must help make a second batch of tamales. Her aunt playfully states that everyone knows that the second batch is always better. All agree except the children that “let off a groan the size of twenty-four tamales.”

Since Soto uses only a couple of Spanish words, and Martinez does a fantastic job of colorfully and accurately portraying Mexican American culture, this is an excellent book that can be used to introduce this culture to others. There is no deep message conveyed, no hidden moral in the story, just an enjoyable tale that is sure to become a holiday favorite.

REVIEW EXCERPTS
"This story will have readers hungering for tamales. Everyone can identify with Maria's panic and the too-full tummies, but this also inspires children to share the way their own family celebrates holidays. The joyful paintings portray a loving Hispanic family." –From Children’s Literature

"Soto's simple text is charmingly direct; he skips explanations, letting characters reveal themselves by what they do. Martinez's realistic, nicely composed paintings are glowing with light and life, while he reinforces the story with particularly expressive faces and gestures. This one should become a staple on the holiday menu." – From Kirkus Reviews

CONNECTIONS
Other picture book titles by Gary Soto:
Chato's Kitchen
Snapshots from the Wedding
The Old Man and His Door
Chato and the Party Animals

Website:
http://www.garysoto.com/