El Libro De Las Palomitas De Maíz

by Tomie dePaola

Information about the history of popcorn accompanies recipes and fun facts in this Spanish-language book for young readers.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Food, Nonfiction, Science, Cooking, History

32 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Tomie dePaola (pronounced Tommy da-POW-la) was best known for his books for children.

He had a five-decade writing and illustrating career during which he published more than 270 books, including 26 Fairmount Avenue, Strega Nona, and Meet the Barkers.

Tomie dePaola and his work have been recognized with the Caldecott Honor Award, the Newbery Honor Award, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, and the New Hampshire Governor's Arts Award of Living Treasure.

Reviews

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

First released in 1978, The Popcorn Book may be Tomie dePaola's best-known nonfiction work, a reel of fascinating facts interwoven with a subtly amusing story. A television commercial prompts twins Tony and Tiny to crave popcorn, and when Tony wonders aloud why their mother stores unpopped kernels in the refrigerator, scholarly Tiny researches the reason. As his brother prepares the pan, Tiny finds a book packed with popcorn information.

It's easy to think of popcorn as a modern snack, but New World Indians munched on it thousands of years ago. Various methods to pop corn have been used, but the Iroquois developed a reliable technique. Tiny reads from the book an explanation of why kernels pop, and a description of different types of corn. He relates an anecdote about one scorching American Midwest summer when corn in a farmer's field popped spontaneously, leaving the area looking like a blizzard hit. Without thinking, Tony overloads the pan with kernels and the popcorn bursts out into a "blizzard" here and now, covering the floor. How should the twins solve the problem? They can think of a way.

The Popcorn Book is a parade of popcorn facts, including two recipes at the end. Tony and Tiny's underlying narrative helps hold the interest of readers who aren't into fact books. The story is fun and informative, and little of it went out of date even decades after the book's debut. Tomie dePaola is a good teacher and entertainer, and that makes The Popcorn Book an appealing package.

[midnightfaerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great example of why we love Tomie de Paola. A book about a seemingly boring topic, popcorn, that gives an educational experience in a multitude of ways. Besides learning all about popcorn, what it's made of, and how to cook it, we also learn the history and traditions of many cultures around the world pertaining to popcorn. Some of the legends from particular cultures had fun pictures to go along with the stories that kept my kids involved and engaged, especially my 5 yr old. A wonderful way to learn how much popcorn is grown in the U.S. and the different types as well. It probably falls between a level 2 and a level 3 reader for beginners. Overall an awesome learning tool parents will appreciate and a must have for any children's library.

[Shiloah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The kids insisted I rate it 5 stars. If I had my druthers it would be three stars. It was good with good info. I’ve learned much of it throughout my life.

[Ms. B · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, this 40th year anniversary version published in 2018 is as fun as the original. Includes updated text to better represent indigenous people of the United States.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does anyone else like to do a theme with what they are snacking on and what they are reading? No? That's just me? Well I was in the mood for some popcorn and threw some in the microwave while looking for a popcorn themed book to read. The second I saw this book I had one of those. Oh my god I remember when Mrs. 1st grade teacher read us this book. She read it while we all greedily munched on popcorn.

The Popcorn Book is part story part fact giving book. In it two boys are making popcorn while one reads facts about popcorn to the other (I assume they were brothers). Legends and stories are told alongside of facts.

Ok this book is heavy on the feelings of nostalgia for me. It is an older book as it was first published in 1978. So the book is a year older than me! I'm not sure how accurate the facts still are but they are fascinating. One of the things I loved though was when the one boy said he would go look it up and there he was reading the encyclopedia. Kids there was a time when there was no internet let alone google to look up facts. Often you had to go to the library or rely on an ancient set of encyclopedias that were bought who knows how many years prior. I love the combination of the story of the two boys making popcorn with the interesting facts about popcorn.

The illustrations are great and I think they are in a style that children today will still love. Though the colors definitely reek of the 70s.

Rating this one is kind of hard for me. When it comes to nostalgia it is a 5 out of 5. But that is the thing the majority of pleasure I get is from the memory I have of my teacher reading us the book. The facts are wonderful as are the legends but again I don't know how well the facts hold up 40 years later. If were coming in fresh to this book having never heard or seen it before I think it would stand at 2 out of 5. So for nostalgia alone I'll bump it up another star.

3 out of 5 stars.

[Erika]

I learned about my favorite food today

[Kamillah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Popcorn Book probably represents my first forray into food-themed literature! It recently made me smile to revisit one of my favorite books from childhood. Writing an engaging nonfiction book for young children requires a deft hand and Tomie dePaola succeeds with the The Popcorn Book.

The illustrations are inviting and cute and the prose is simple enough for young children to grasp, yet still engaging and informative. I also love how the book subtly encourages knowledge and curiosity. In the book, two brothers (Tony and Tiny) decide to make popcorn, but they wonder why their mom stores the popcorn in the fridge. While one brother takes to the stove, the other brother picks up a book to find out more about popcorn. Along with Tiny and Tony, we learn about the history of popcorn, it's popularity around the world and how it became an American staple. For an older book, I appreciate how dePaola incorporates traditions and legends about popcorn from around the world--he shares intriguing popcorn facts from diverse cultures without stereotyping or exoticizing them.

As a bonus, the book includes two popcorn recipes at the end of the book, which is great since it's quite impossible to read this book without being inspired to make popcorn the old-fashioned way.

This is an endearing and fun book for kids ages three and up and perhaps even better for adults, since we can make popcorn without parental supervision!

[Luisa Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

The next time your inquisitive child is asking you a bunch of random questions about popcorn, hand them this book. Anything you'd ever want to know (and don't want to know, haha) are within these pages.

Ages: 4 - 8

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[Isela · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an informative book about popcorn presented in quotes. However, I recommend presenting the publishing date to my students, so that they are aware of the use of the language. For example, "Popcorn was discovered by the Indian people...", Indian people comes from India not Central America. On the other hand the book is enjoyable but I would rather find another up-to date book.

[Heidi-Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. Not bad. Not fabulous even thought the information was interesting. I do wonder just how much of that was truth, since there was no author's note to state what was myth, truth, folklore, etc. But I certainly want to eat some popcorn now!

[Maren Prestegaard · Rating 3 out of 5]

"that's just learning about stuff." Little M calls this a one and done.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

January 3
actually reissued in 2018

[Diana Flores · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fours stars for nostalgia, popcorn facts, and dePaola illustrations!

Originally published in 1978, this was one of my favorite books when I was a kid. My family loved popcorn and I loved research, so I really enjoyed the historical facts in The Popcorn Book. I think I also really enjoyed this book because the text is presented as speech bubbles, so it was probably my first taste of 'graphic novels' (one of my favorite book formats today).

As I read this book in 2024, I wondered if any of the text had been changed from the original 1978 version. I found that yes, there was a second copyright on the book in 2018. So, I found a copy of the book printed prior to 2018 and I was able to compare the two versions.

The pages are unnumbered, but here is what I found:
1978: "Popcorn was discovered by the Indian people in the Americas many thousands of years ago."
2018: "The indigenous peoples of the Americas discovered popcorn thousands of years ago."

1978: "One of the first sights Columbus saw in the New World was the Indians in San Salvador selling popcorn and wearing it as jewelry."
2018: "The Aztecs called popcorn momochitl and used it for food and decoration. The Lucayan people of present-day San Salvador ate and sold popcorn and used it as jewelry. Before they arrived in the fifteen century, Spanish colonizers had never seen popcorn before!"

1978: "The Indian People of the Americas had many different ways to pop popcorn."
2018: "The indigenous peoples of the Americas had many different ways to pop popcorn."

1978: "But many kernels were lost in the fire with this method."
2018: "Oiling the cob could keep kernels attached even when they popped. The Ho-Chunk, also known as the Winnebago, were particularly fond of oiled popcorn on the cob."

1978: "In 1612, French explorers saw some Iroquois people popping corn in clay pots."
2018: "The people of the Haudenosaunee, also called the Iroquois Confederacy, popped corn in clay pots."
***I especially like this change. Presented the first way (1978), the French explorers are the subject of the sentence - watching people popping corn in clay pots. In the 2018 version, the people of the Haudenosaunee are the subject of the sentence - doing the popcorn popping!

1978: "The Iroquois people were fond of popcorn soup."
2018: "People of many indigenous nations were fond of popcorn soup."

1978: "The Algonkians who came to the first Thanksgiving dinner even brought some popcorn in a deerskin pouch."
2018: "The Algonquins introduced popcorn to English colonists."

1978: "Today, Americans use 500,000,000 pounds of popcorn each year. 30% is eaten at movies, circuses, ball games, and county fairs. 10% is saved for seed and sold to other countries. But 60% is popped right at home."
2018: "Today, Americans consume 14 billion quarts of popcorn annually. That's 43 quarts per person! 30% is eaten at movies, ball games, and county fairs. But 70% is popped right at home."
***Of course the stats needed to be updated. Interesting that 10% is no longer marked as 'sold to other countries.'

1978: "Most of the popcorn is grown in the Midwest, too."
2018: line removed

1978: "The Indian people had a legend that inside each kernel of popcorn lived a little demon. When his house was heated he got so made that he blew up."
2018: "Some people tell the story that inside each kernel of popcorn lives a little man. When his house is heated, he gets so mad that he blows up."

[Bertha Montaño · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tomie dePaola’s children’s book has very fun to read. I love how one of the main characters of the book gets curious about something and decides to go out and find the information himself. The book doesn’t mention the characters names. They are illustrated on the shirts that the characters are wearing. In the book, Tiny is illustrated reading information from a book. He tells reads to his brother Tony all the information he is learning. It was interesting to learn about different fun facts about popcorn, the history of popcorn, how it is made, details about cultures from around the world using popcorn, and how long popcorn has been around for. It was also enjoyable reading Tony’s instructions and tips on how to make popcorn throughout the book. The illustrations were amazing. It was nice to be able to see images of what Tiny was reading and images of Tony making the popcorn. I would use this book as a teaching tool to introduce doing research. The book encourages kids to read. It teaches them that they can learn about a lot of cool stuff when they read. It also teaches them to appreciate books, they realize that history and important information is all documented in books. This book would inspire kids to do their own research when they get curious about something. Having students choose a topic and do research would be really fun after reading the book. They would be more excited and open to learning about something that interests them. Students can also get ideas from the book to know what kind of things to explore in their topic. Overall, the book was very fun and creative.

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Twins Tony and Tiny explore the world of popcorn in this engaging and informative picture book from children's author and illustrator Tomie dePaola, first published in 1978. While Tony prepares some popcorn for them, Tiny reads various pieces of information about this crop and foodstuff, highlighting its long use—archaeologists have found popped corn dating back some 5,600 years!—its importance to Native Americans, and how Euro-American settlers adopted its use as well. The book closes with two recipes for making popcorn...

One of a series of picture books dePaola created in the 1970s—others include The Cloud Book (1975) and The Quicksand Book (1977)—that straddle the fictional/non-fictional line, The Popcorn Book explores a very popular subject. After all, as Tiny notes in the book, Americans then used 500,000,000 pounds of popcorn each year—a number that has undoubtedly increased since the time of publication! I found this one fun, and appreciated the engaging way it imparted information about its subject, while also following the twins on their own popcorn-making journey (which was not without incident). Recommended to young popcorn lovers, and to fans of this author/artist's work.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short and silly; I ran across this randomly and stopped to read it because I love popcorn and was curious about the questions posed on the back cover...which mostly weren't answered to any real depth, like "who eats popcorn soup?"

Plenty of the information in here is outdated and out of touch - while Native Americans (called Indians) are credited as the people who were first known to cultivate and eat popcorn, there are a few jokes at their expense. I wouldn't really recommend this for any modern-day kids, but it was kind of fun to read some quick "historical" information about popcorn - where it comes from, what different types of corn there are, how to cook it, etc.

I was surprised by the recommendation that you keep popcorn in the fridge to preserve its moisture. I've never in my life heard of that - it's a pantry staple, not something you'd dedicate fridge space to. But the logic is that it's the moisture inside the kernels that causes them to pop - as they heat up and it converts to steam - so if they dry out too much, you'll have too many unpopped kernels. The other recommendation is adding a couple tablespoons of water to the kernels before popping, which I guess it wouldn't hurt to try at some point.

Not a terribly informative book, really, and I feel like this would actually be super boring to read aloud to an actual child, but hey. Who doesn't love popcorn.

[Monica Rivas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book follows Tony and Tiny. They want popcorn, and their mom says she keeps it in the fridge. They both wonder why she keeps it there. Tony makes popcorn and explains what he's doing while making it. Tiny looks up popcorn in an encyclopedia. He tells the history, myths, and stories of popcorn.
This book is part story part information. It was originally published in 1978. Since it was written so long ago the facts not might hold up. The myths and legends are still interesting, and could inspire kids to look up more information. The illustrations are in Tomie dePaola’s signature style and are colorful and fun to look at. The facts are all written in text bubbles, since Tiny is reading them aloud to Tony. The dual story-information style is a perfect introduction to non-fiction books.

[Emily Bruns · Rating 3 out of 5]

This could be used for independent reading at the older primary level or the younger intermediate level.

Tony and Tiny love popcorn so they decide to make some at home. While they make it, they read about the history of popcorn.

This book contains some facts that are potentially out of date now that the book is over 40 years old. While this book does contain some interesting history about different indigenous groups, the pictures are not very historically accurate. Despite these flaws, this book could be a good book for some easy, fun reading at the primary and intermediate levels.

[Kaitlyn Kluesner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book talked about how popcorn is made, and where it is most popular in the world. The most popular place is right here in the Midwest, and I thought that was pretty cool. This would be a great book to have in a classroom because many students love popcorn so they will be interested in learning about it.

[Katlyn Marsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great for learning about the history of popcorn and how popular it is in todays time. I found this book to be great for research reasons along for just simple reading amusement. DePaola gives the rich history of popcorn throughout the centuries while giving a cute story to make it fun an interesting.

[Katherinesmail1 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genre: How to/Informational
Grades: PreK-2
Tomie de Paola's unique and beautiful storytelling approach always leaves me with a happy heart. His ability to engage children with informational storytelling is like no other. I loved this book! His illustrations are forever captivating and bring so much joy! This book may be one of my Tomie favorites!

[Madison Whitaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book could be a good book to do an activity with students because you could make popcorn with it. This book is all about popcorn and the history of it. It is super cute and engaging with different writing techniques.

[Nancy Patterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Date I completed reading the book: 11-11-20

My star rating (1 to 5): ***

The date: 11-25-20

Genre: Nonfiction

Grade range: K-3

Book review: The book shares stories about popcorn and gives recipes on how to make popcorn.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun way to share the history and other facts about popcorn with kids, framed by the story of a young child looking the information up and then making his own batch of popcorn. Includes instructions for popcorn making.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tomie dePaola tells the history of popcorn through the lens of two brothers who are craving some. A nice easy nonfiction with dePaola's signature illustrations. This most recent edition has been updated to better represent indigenous people.

[Mia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tomie dePaola is always good, and this book is no exception. Interesting explanation on the history of popcorn. Does include some old information (several references to "indians"). But overall, interesting and enjoyable. Included at the end are two recipes for popcorn.

[Mari]

While it feels like a fun book on the surface, I feel like there are lots of inaccuracies and would like sources for the historical aspects. I didn't appreciate Native Americans being called 'The Indians'.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some history about popcorn, with a cute movie tie in. Storytime 01/25/18

[Kay Mcaloney · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second grade advanced reading group enjoyed reading and talking about the different kinds of popcorn and it’s long history. Good discussion book.

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I normally love Tomie de Paola but this was a tad blah. Still fun and educational.