Strega+Nona

Maisie Hutt // Strega Nona //


 * Publisher: ** Scholastic Inc.
 * Price: ** USA $5.00
 * ISBN: ** 0-590-37038-3


 * Summary: ** In this book, there is an old lady named Strega Nona who lives in a town called Calabria. Everyone in the town calls her “grandma witch” because she could do so many magical things such as cure ailments and brew potions. Since Strega Nona was getting older she needed help around the house so she hires a boy named Big Anthony to help out with her chores. She shows Big Anthony around and one day while he was milking the goat he heard Strega Nona singing a spell over her pasta pot. He sees her brew a pot of pasta in what he thinks is a “magic pot:. What he failed to notice was that at the end of the spell Strega Nona blew the pot 3 kisses in order to make it stop producing pasta. When Strega Nona goes out of town she leaves Big Anthony is charge and instructs him not to touch her pasta pot. However, Big Anthony did not listen to Strega Nona’s warning and he said the spell over the pasta pot and fed the whole town from the pasta he made. He did not give the pot the final touch of blowing 3 kisses so the pot overflowed with pasta and it began filling up the town. When Strega Nona returned from her trip she stopped the pot from overflowing and told Big Anthony that since he didn’t listen he was going to have to eat all the extra pasta that filled the town.


 * Review: ** I, like so many others, love this book. This book is the first of the many //Strega Nona// books that now consume all book stores, libraries, teacher’s shelves and children’s bedsides. I enjoy the fact that the author is both the author and the illustrator. I love the pictures because they are beautifully done with an old world Italy feel to them. The pictures clearly and effectively illustrate the setting of the story. It feels like you are reading or listening to a fable your grandmother always told about not touching the family heirloom by the way the author develops the plot. The character Strega Nona is the perfect Protagonist. Strega Nona embodies the perfect combination of mystery in this book because she has so many spells and potions up her sleeve, while still remaining a gentle old woman. Big Anthony is the humorous antagonist who doesn’t listen to Strega Nona and gets himself into trouble. He is tall, lanky and full of his own tricks to keep this book interesting to readers. I also think that the problems that Big Anthony occurs along the way are hilarious to both children and adults alike. I like that Big Anthony is taught a lesson for disobeying Strega Nona in a light hearted way. I love the theme of cooperation and problem solving portrayed through Strega Nona and Big Anthony. It is the perfect book for a first grade classroom because of way the length of the story and depictions of events are.


 * Analysis of Literary Elements ** : The theme in //Strega Nona// is important to analyze. The theme is cooperation and problem solving, because without cooperation, there cannot be effective problem solving. An instance of an attempt at problem solving occurs on page 16 and 17 “Big Anthony rushed in and shouted the magic words again, but the pot kept bubbling. He took the pot off the floor, but pasta kept on pouring from it. Big Anthony grabbed a cover and put it on the pot and sat on it. But the pasta raised the cover, and Big Anthony as well, and spilled on the floor of Strega Nona’s house.” Here Big Anthony is trying to cover up his mistake and solve the problem on his own, but when that doesn’t work the town tries to make a barricade so that the pasta won’t cover the entire town! Strega Nona was the one who was able to stop the pasta pot from overflowing any longer because “She sang the magic song and blew the three kisses…” (24). The people of the town were so grateful she helped, and to teach Big Anthony a lesson she solves that problem by having him serve a punishment that fits the crime, so he had to eat all the pasta. It is important to teach students how to work together. If Big Anthony didn’t disobey Strega Nona and he cooperated with her, this event never would have happened in the little town. Big Anthony tried to solve the problem himself, but without the help of Strega Nona he couldn’t. Children are always getting into binds that they need help with, maybe because they didn’t listen or just because they didn’t know. They need the help of someone older and wiser all the time to help them through it. It is a good lesson because it teaches students the repercussions of not listening to someone in charge but it does it in a funny way. It also teaches students that asking for help is a good thing, and problems can always be fixed with cooperation.


 * Author Biography: ** Tomie dePaula was born a Meriden Connecticut resident on September 15, 1934 to his mother, father and three siblings. dePaula took an interest in writing and drawing at a young age and took art classes, designed for exhibitions, did theatre productions, designed posters, and tons of other things. He went to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York for college where he practiced his love of art. His first job was illustrating a science book called //Sound//, and his first book was called //The Wonderful Dragon of Timlin//. He has illustrated nearly 250 books and written the stories for approximately 100 of them. He now lives and resides in a in New London, New Hampshire.


 * Related Links: ** [] This is a video of a musical of //Strega Nona// plus a brief description of the story.

[] This is a webpage dedicated to the author’s books.

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