Childrens Book Review of Strega Nona: Her Story as Told to Tomie dePaola, Number Six in the Series

Nona can be:

• The diminutive “Grandma” for Nonna (“Grandmother”);
• The feminine proper namesake of ancient Rome’s goddess of pregnancy;
• The feminine singular ordinal adjective meaning “ninth.”

All three possibilities describe the baby delivered:

• By Grandma Concetta;
• To the Calabrian villager Giuseppe’s young wife;
• With Zia Rosa’s help.

Nona dominates Concetta’s lessons in:

• Aglio selvatico (“wild garlic”) for upset stomachs;
• Rosmarino (“rosemary”) for baldness and furniture-polishing.

She enjoys borrowing hair ribbons after helping Amelia spell and write at convent school. With Amelia, she learns from Concetta’s big book of spells lotions and potions for:

• Headaches;
• Warts.

The girls leave for L’Accademia delle Streghe. Amelia loves:

• The Academy of Witches’ machines and science;
• The city’s bustle, noise, and shops.

Nona abandons studies for:

• Country walks;
• Traditional practice.

Amelia completes the Academy’s diploma-conferring requirements. She employs the modern Moving Things Up spell to relocate Concetta’s goat to the roof. But only Nona’s applying olive oil gets the goat to slide back down from the roof. Amelia goes off to the bigger, busier town on the mountain’s other side. Nona contrastingly helps to:

• Clean and polish Concetta’s magic pot for making steaming hot pasta with a secret, special-tasting ingredient;
• Inject heartfelt kindness and spirit into old spells.

Upon retiring to the seashore, Concetta leaves Nona the house with:

• Dove, goat, peacock, and rabbit;
• Herb garden;
• Instructions about making pasta with love’s secret ingredient;
• Pasta-making pot;
• Remedies;
• Spells book.

Tomie dePaola admits to:

• Advising his parents of his artistic aspirations at age 4;
• Planning his artistic and literary creations with four-year-old audiences in mind;
• Respecting the art of Fra Angelico (1395? – February 18, 1455), Giotto (1267? – January 8, 1337), Georges Rouault (May 27, 1871 – February 13, 1958), and Ben Shahn (September 12, 1898 – March 14, 1969).  

He additionally describes folk art inspirations with:

• Bold colors;
• Confident lines;
• Deceptive simplicity.

The above-mentioned inputs merge most pleasingly with those of:

• Patrick Collins as type designer;
• G.P. Putnam’s Sons as publisher;
• South China Printing Co. Ltd. as printer.

Painted with watercolors and typeset in Palatino, the 1996 publication welcomes:

• Ages 5 – 9+;
• Grades kindergarten to fourth grade and onward.

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

Tomie dePaola's heartwarming Strega Nona has a penchant for traditional wisdom, including such natural remedies as wild garlic (Aglio selvatico) for upset stomachs.
flowers of Aglio selvatico: fugzu, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/70253321@N00/4502151745/

In "Strega Nona: Her Story," Strega Nona displays creative use of traditional remedies by sliding a goat back down a roof via slippery olive oil.
olive tree plantations, Bagaladi environs, Reggio Calabria Province, Calabria, southern Italy: Clemens M Brandstetter (C.m.b), CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kalabrien-Olivenernte.JPG

Strega Nona is comfortable with traditional ways of being, which are easier to observe in Calabria's villages.
village of Conflenti, Catanzaro Province, Calabria, southern Italy: Antal, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Panorama_di_Conflenti.jpg

"Telling Stories with Tomie 'Scary'" (3:54) ~ Tomie dePaola's Strega Nona character has been interpreted through collaboration with Muppets creator Jim Henson.
Uploaded October 26, 2012, by The Jim Henson Company to YouTube ~ URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zMYurj9vZ0

dePaola, Tomie. 1996. Strega Nona: Her Story as Told to Tomie dePaola. New York, NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons.

dePaola. "Spotlight On ... Strega Nona. Tomie.com. Retrieved December 31, 2014.

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