Childrens Book Review of The Legend of Old Befana: Italian Christmas Story Retold by Tomie dePaola

Balthazar, Casper, and Melchior anticipate the birth of a king whose deeds and words will be worldwide in their impacts. They await information in the night sky as to the birth’s precise date and place. They find what they seek in the sudden appearance of the sky’s brightest-ever star. Their following the star to its overhead location generates crowds along the way. People at each stop en route know that the Three Wise Men intend to honor the newborn king who will heed and help the world’s poor. Balthazar, Casper, and Melchior make a stop in the hometown of one of the world’s tidiest senior citizens. The inveterate cleaner, indoors and outside, responds to the name Befana.  

Old Befana does not stray too far away from her broom. She gets her house sparkling clean every day. Then she goes outside to do likewise all the way down to the street. She is interested in accompanying the Three Wise Men on their journey. But she must finish her daily cleaning first. She then needs to bake and make worthy presents. Old Befana pursues the Three Wise Men with her ever-handy broomstick. But prioritizing cleaning and then gift-making results in delays that cannot be compensated for or overcome. Old Befana never sees the Holy Family or the Three Wise Men. So she stops at children’s houses during her yearly recreations of the Three Wise Men’s path.

Tomie dePaola brings experience and expertise to his illustrations and texts. Experience comes from being the best qualified candidate through:

• Talent;
• Training.

The education section of his resume details completions of:

• B.F.A. from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York;
• M.F.A. from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland;
• Ph.D. equivalency from Lone Mountain College in San Francisco, California.

The author – illustrator gives excellent accountings of his artistic and literary positions, proclivities, and programs with every publication. The quality predictably is high in his bold, colorful folk art and folklore styles for The Legend of Old Befana. Librarians and teachers usually target the 1980-released holiday tale for:

• Ages 5 – 10+;
• Grades kindergarten through fifth grade.

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

In Italian legend, industrious housekeeper Befana initially is too focused on sweeping to accompany the Wise Men on their journey to honor newly born Jesus.
"I Tre Re Magi" (The Three Wise Men), named as Balthassar, Melchior and Gaspar, in detail of "Maria col Bambino attorniata da angeli" (Mary and and child surrounded by angels); mosaic completed 526 CE by Master of Sant'Apollinare
Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, east central Emilia Romagna Region, northeastern Italy: Nina Aldin Thune (Nina-no), CC BY SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Magi_(1).jpg

According to Italian tradition, children's goodness is rewarded with presents not only from Santa but also from industrious housekeeper Befana.
colorful display of Befanas; Mercato di Natale, piazza Navona, Rome, west central Italy; December 27, 2009: Lalupa, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Navona_Natale_1150489.JPG

Befana does not punish children with lumps of coal. Instead, because she is win-win for all children, she leaves rock candy blackened by caramelization.
ovoids of coal: Rasbak, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eierkolen_ovoids.jpg

"La Befana" (5:40)
Uploaded December 26, 2012, by ElPolloReal to YouTube ~ URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3xTzMsPbrk

"About Tomie: Biography." Tomie.com. Retrieved December 13, 2014.

• Available at: http://www.tomie.com/about_tomie/bio.html

dePaola, Tomie. 1980. The Legend of Old Befana. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers.

“La vera storia.” La Befana.it. Retrieved December 13, 2014.

• Available at: http://www.la-befana.it/