Tomás and the Library Lady

Mora, Pat. 1997. TOMAS AND THE LIBRARY LADY. Illustrated by Raul Colón. New York: Random House. ISBN 3-1551-06941-7884.

PLOT

Tomás and his family travel from Texas to Iowa to work in the fields. In place of a television set, the children listen to Papá Grande and his stories. It this Grandfather that encourages Tomás to find more stories at the local library. The librarian points Tomás, not only to piles of books, but also towards the love of reading.

ANALYSIS

A beautiful tale that validates the contribution of oral stories, focuses on the love a family shares by taking care of their aged members, sheds light on what life for a migrant family might be like, and portrays the American dream of working hard, receiving an education and becoming a productive citizen.

Mora educates us about migrant life as she relates, “The family picked fruit and vegetables for Texas farmers in the winder and for Iowa farmers in the summer.”
She tells of the unpleasant living conditions in which the family lived, “Tomás curled up on the cot in the small house that his family shared with other workers.”
Mora also does not sugar coat the reality of growing up poor. She tells of the days when the family visits the town dump to look for pieces of iron to sell. Each seeks for what they esteem: Tomás' younger brother looks for toys and Tomás looks for books.

An important theme in the story is love and respect for each other. While the storyteller of the family is Papá Grande, Tomás soon memorizes all of his tales. This is when Papá Grande tells him he can find more stories at the library. On Tomás’ trip back from the library, Papá Grande sees his books and asks Tomás to read to him in English. Soon the entire family comes near to hear Tomás tell the story. Ultimately, Tomás becomes the new storyteller as he reads to the family. The person that unlocks the magic of imagining what you read in books is the library lady. While we never learn her name, she invites Tomás in and encourages him to first drink water and then drink books at each visit. Tomás imagination soars! He hears cries of birds, roars of tigers, and feels the warmth of a dinosaur’s neck. What makes this story more memorable is a note at the end of the book . Mora tells us that Tomás Rivera was born in Crystal City and was a migrant worker who valued education. We read of his successes in life and learn of the library that bears his name. We understand this is the same Tomás in our story.
Pat Mora uses a variety of interlingual strategies . In some instances, she uses appositives, "He helped his grandfather, Papá Grande, climb down." In other instances, she allows the characters to begin in Spanish but moves into English. For example, Mora allows the reader to understand that Papá Grande tells his stories in Spanish. This is important, since it adds authenticity to the story. He begins, “En un tiempo pasado,” Mora then translates this beginning and continues his story in English.
Another example of the accurate use of the Spanish language is Mora’s use of accents. Adding to authenticity, is the manner in that Mora chooses to consistently refer to Tomás mother as Mamá throughout the book - When Tomás is speaking to her and when Mamá is being used as part of the narration. Mora does the same for Papá Grande.

Mora is also an excellent storyteller, vividly painting pictures with words. To explain just how hot, sweaty and thirsty Tomás feels during their long trip to Iowa, he states, “Mama, if I had a glass of cold water, I would drink it in large gulps. I would suck the ice. I would pour the last drops of water on my face.” One fully understands and practically feels the intense heat Tomás is feeling.
While Mora weaves a beautiful tale with words, Colón weaves a beautiful tale with illustrations. He uses warm hues to depict the characters. He captures the kindness of the librarian and the love shown on Papá Grande's face towards his grandson. We see the images Tomás invisions in his mind. We also see Tomás face of sheer delight as he is enamored with reading.

This eloquently told story would make a wonderful addition to a school’s or home’s library. I read this story in a basal book, but admit that until I understood that this was a reflection of Tomás Riveras’ life, did it actually move me. I admired the family’s buoyancy and rejoiced at Tomás Riveras’ success. This happens to be one of the books that my students will gladly read over and over and over again.

REVIEW EXCERPTS

"From the immigrant slums of New York to the fields of California, it’s an elemental American experience: the uprooted child who finds a home in the library. Mora’s story is based on a true incident in the life of the famous writer Tomás Rivera, the son of migrant workers who became an education leader and university president." - From Booklist

"This inspiring story is based on the true life of Tomas Rivera, a migrant farm worker who became a writer, professor, and university administrator. He was chancellor of the University of California at Riverside before his death in 1984. Raul Colón uses beautifully muted colors to illustrate Tomas' wonderful imagination. A heartwarming story for children from all backgrounds." -From Children’s Literature

CONNECTIONS

A wonderful activity that would incorporate family members would be a traveling journal. Students would take their traveling journal to conduct interviews of relatives. The goal would be to return with a story about the family told by a relative.

For the younger children, a tape recorder could be used to record the story.

Websites to visit:

http://www.patmora.com/

http://www.patmora.com/book_pages/tomas.htm

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/