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Growing Up with Tamales = Los tamales de Ana

by Gwendolyn Zepeda

CCBC Review:

Six-year-old Ana helps out when her family makes tamales at Christmas by mixing the dough. But her older sister, Lidia, is eight, “so she gets to spread the dough on the corn husk leaves. I wish I was eight, so that my hands would be big enough to spread the dough just right.” Ana begins imagining what she will be able to do when she is older. Thinking about being eight, then ten, twelve, fourteen, sixteen, and eighteen, she considers the many new things to look forward to at each age, from riding her bike to school at ten to not being scared of anything at twelve to driving at sixteen. And at each age she thinks about “when Christmas comes around” and what new role she will have in making tamales. Still, Lidia will always be two ears older and, it seems, always have the more coveted role in tamale making. So when Ana images herself eighteen, she decides she will open her own tamale factory. “Lidia will be twenty. If she wants to, she can come and work for me.” Gwendolyn Zepeda’s original, highly appealing bilingual (English/Spanish) story is filled with familiar longing and child-centered details, and features warm, colorful paintings by April Ward. Highly Commended, 2009 Charlotte Zolotow Award ©2009 Cooperative Children's Book Center

Illustrated by April Ward

CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 6-9
Age Range: PreK-Early Elementary (Ages 4-7) Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-10)
Format: Picture book
Subjects: Bilingual Books Celebrations, Holidays, and Observances Change Food and Cooking Patterned text/Repetition Siblings Spanish Language
Diversity subject: Latine

Publishers: Arte Publico, Pinata
Publish Year: 2008
Pages: 32
ISBN: 9781558854932
CCBC Location: Picture Book, Zepeda

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