Childrens Book Review of Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola, Number One in the Series

Strega Nona attracts a solid, steady clientele through:

• Cures for headaches and warts;
• Potions for husband-seeking girls.

She becomes too busy to tend her property. Big, inattentive Anthony convinces Strega Nona of his ability to:

• Feed and milk the goat;
• Fetch water;
• Harvest vegetables;
• Sweep the house;
• Wash dishes;
• Weed the garden.

Strega Nona demands that Big Anthony never touch her valuable pasta-making pot. But Big Anthony does not feel compelled to follow household rules when Strega Nona goes to Strega Amelia’s nearby mountain town home. He does not lunch on the cupboard’s bread and cheese that Strega Nona leaves as part of his contract of:

• Complete daily board;
• Separate lodgings near the goat shed;
• Three coins.

The pot boils pasta when Big Anthony sings Strega Nona’s mealtime song. It cooks enough for all the townspeople to have repeat servings. But it does not stop when Big Anthony sings Strega Nona’s simmer-down song. The pot’s contents end up filling:

• Strega Nona’s house and lawn:
• The town’s road and square … until Strega Nona’s return.

The grandmotherly witch figures out what the problem and the solution are. She knows that the pot must receive three air-blown kisses after the meal-end song. The townspeople make it clear that Big Anthony needs to be punished. Strega Nona opts for Big Anthony devouring all the pasta. She retires while Big Anthony tosses and turns with an over-full stomach.  

Strega Nona’s adventures exist thanks to Thomas Anthony dePaola’s familiarity with:

• The big-chinned, big-nosed commedia dell’arte ([masked] craft comedy) character Punchinello;
• The Italian folkloric, public-domain story, The Porridge Pot.

Strega Nona’s readers indeed find cultural enrichment and educational entertainment, what with inputs from:

• Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers as publisher;
• Tomie dePaola as illustrator and storyteller.

Printed in Hong Kong and published in 1975, the classic story gets categorized by educators and librarians as suitable for:

• Ages 3 – 8+ years and upward;
• Grades preschool through third grade and onward.

But the beautifully illustrated, clearly written publication welcomes parents, readers, and teachers beyond the above-mentioned confines to enjoy:

• Culinary adventures;
• Italian language-learning;
• Literary analysis;
• Local color.

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Tomie dePaola sets his Strega Nona series in Calabria, the region located scenically in the toe of the Italian peninsula.
Valle del fiume Amato, near Adami, Calabria, southern Italy: Ferdinando Chiodo (F.chiodo), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Valle_Fiume_Amato_21_08_2008.jpg

In Tomie dePaola's first installment of his Strega Nona series, an out-of-control pasta pot keeps generating record amounts of pasta.
"Happy Pasta": D. Sharon Pruitt/Pink Sherbet Photography from USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Happy_Pasta_free_creative_commons_(2201247567).jpg

Tomie dePaola was recognized as one of two worthy runners-up for Caldecott Honors in 1976 for "Strega Nona," the first installment in his Strega Nona series.
obverse of Caldecott Medal: Colby Sharp (colbysharp), CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/61421932@N08/14048518655/

"Strega Nona" (10"01) ~ read by author-illustrator Tomie dePaola
Uploaded July 2, 2013, by Matt Gomez to YouTube ~ URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULUG8IIo9-8

dePaola. "Spotlight On ... Strega Nona. Tomie.com. Retrieved December 23, 2014.

• Available at: http://www.tomie.com/books/spotlight_on_strega.html

dePaola, Tomie. 1975. Strega Nona. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.