Strega Nona is a helpful old witch, who hires Big Anthony to help with chores around the house. She warns him, however, to never touch her pasta pot. One night, Big Anthony sees Strega Nona use the pasta pot to magically make pasta. When no one believes him when he tells them about it, he vows that one day he will use the pot to show them he was telling the truth. When Strega Nona leaves to visit a friend, Big Anthony takes his chance and uses the pasta pot to make pasta for everyone in town. However, Anthony did not watch closely enough when Strega Nona used the pot, and he did not see the correct way to stop the pot. Strega Nona returns just in time to save the town from the pasta, and she makes Anthony eat it all in order to punish him.
Citation
dePaola, T. (1975). Strega nona. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.
Impression
This reminded me of The Sorcerer's Apprentice--magic going wrong when someone unqualified does it. I liked this book--the story was fun, and the illustrations were appealing and also added meaning to the book. There were several instances where the pictures told a bit of the story that the words did not, which is something I really look for in picture books. The illustrations also gave a very solid sense of time and place to the story, which really grounded it.
Reviews
"De Paola's illustrations aptly capture the whimsy of this ancient tale... simple line drawings clearly reveal the agony and ecstasy of pasta power, the muted colors create just the right ambiance for a Medieval village."
[Review of the book Strega Nona, by T. DePaulo]. The New York Times Book Review. Retrieved from http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/features/books/bookreviews/index.html
This book would be a great read-aloud for a storytime.
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