Strega+Nona's+Gift

__Bibliographic Data__: Reading Level: Ages 5 and up Hardcover: 32 pages Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books (October 18 2011) Language: English ISBN-10: 0399256490 ISBN-13: 978-0399256493

__Author Biography__:

Tomie dePaola is a very talented author/illustrator of children’s picture books and he is best known for his books //Strega Nona,// and //26 Fairmount Avenue// as well as his style of art in his illustrations. Tomie dePaola is of Irish/Italian decent and he was born in Meriden, Connecticut on September 15th 1935. Tomie knew ever since he was four years old that drawing and writing would be his lifelong passions. He remembers that his love for art was established even more by his elementary school art teacher Mrs. Bowers who recognized his talent and give him extra opportunities to draw after he was done with classroom assignments. When Tomie graduated from high school, he decided to receive an education in art. He went to the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn New York where he received a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts degree, and he also attended the College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland California where he received his Masters of Fine Arts degree. He then applied his artistic talents in the fields of theater, graphic design, and education where he designed greeting cards, and painted murals in churches. He illustrated his first children’s book in 1965 which was called //Sound// by Lisa Miller. He then decided to spend all of his time illustrating and writing his own books. He soon created his own unique artistic style (which is a combination of watercolor, acrylic, and tempera paint giving his art a folk-traditional look). His artistic style is what makes his children’s books so successful and popular and is what has earned his books many prestigious awards such as the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, the Smithsonian Medal, the Kerlan Award, the Caldecott Honor Award etc… He has published over 200 children’s books in fifteen countries. He also attended graduate school and has received doctorate degrees at The University of Connecticut, Pratt Institute, and Georgetown University. He currently lives in New London, New Hampshire with Bronte, his Airedale terrier. He works in a 200 year old renovated barn.

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__Summary of the book__: //Strega Nona’s Gift,// is set in Calabria Italy around Christmas Time. The book outlines the special days in the month of December that Italians celebrate such as: The Feast of San Nicola on December 6th, The Feast of Santa Lucia on December 13th, Christmas Eve (La Viglia) on December 24th, The Feast of San Silvestro on New Year’s Eve- December 31st, and Epiphany, the Feast of the Three Kings on January 5th. On each special day, the author describes the food that is prepared by Strega Nona and the villagers as well as the Italian traditions and beliefs. One of the Italian beliefs is that at midnight on the Eve of Epiphany (January 5th) all the animals in the village speak to one another. This is because when Jesus was in his manger in a barn, the donkey and the ox kept him warm. Therefore, the people in Strega Nona’s village give the animals a feast because they want to make sure that their animals are fed and treated well so that they do not say bad things about them to the other animals. Strega Nona cooks delicious dishes for her peacock, her dove, and for her goat. Big Anthony, Strega Nona’s helper (who is also known for getting into trouble around Strega Nona’s house) smells the delicious food that Strega Nona is cooking for the animals. At supper, Big Anthony is disappointed. He receives plain pasta, where the animals each have a plate of elaborate, delicious smelling food. Strega Nona asks Big Anthony to take “Signora Goat’s” plate out to her in the goat shed. Before Big Anthony reaches the goat shed he decides to taste the goat’s food. However, one small taste ends up leading to Big Anthony eating the entire plate. Big Anthony is horrified at his actions and he knows he has made a mistake. He does not tell Strega Nona and he gives the goat hay and oats. That night Strega Nona opens her ancient magical book and gives everyone a gift- a dream about food. The animals also talk that night and Strega Nona’s goat shares how Big Anthony ate her food, and therefore she ate his blanket. Big Anthony doesn’t sleep because he is cold and he is therefore not able to experience Strega Nona’s gift of dreams about food, which fills the stomachs of all the other villagers. On January 6th, the villagers celebrate by eating a cake that has a fava bean in it. Whoever gets the piece with the fava bean in it becomes the King of the feast and receives a gift. Big Anthony gets the fava bean. As a gift, he asks Strega Nona to give him a blanket and the same plate of food that she made for her goat on the Eve of Epiphany (that Big Anthony ate when he wasn’t supposed to). The story ends with Big Anthony visiting Strega Nona’s goat and giving her the food (that she was supposed to receive the other night) as a way of saying to the goat that he was sorry for what he did. Big Anthony and the goat make up.

__Review__:

I really enjoyed reading this book because it highlights the Italian culture, traditions, and beliefs, on special days in the month of December and in early January that Italians celebrate. The story also lets the readers experience words in the Italian language, such as //capodanno// which means New Year, and //grazie// which means thank you. The readers gain information on the foods that Italians eat, such as the seven fish dinner on Christmas Eve, the Saints that the Italians celebrate, such as San Nicola and Santa Lucia, and the values that Italians have, such as not serving meat on Christmas eve until after the midnight mass. The book also helps the readers to gain a sense that the holidays for Italians are all about being together with family and friends, and working together to create delicious home-cooked meals that are shared with everyone. This is portrayed in the illustrations which show Strega Nona and the villagers working together to make all the food for each celebration and all the villagers eating together. I also liked how this book focuses on an Italian legend that many people have probably never heard of before. This legend or belief (in Calabria) is that at midnight on January 5th, all the animals talk to each other. Therefore the Italians make sure that all of their animals receive special meals before they go to bed by their owners, so that the animals do not talk bad about their owners to one another. As an Italian, I have never heard of this legend before and I was really interested to learn about this belief and to gain knowledge about its meaning to //Calabresi// (Calabrians) like Strega Nona and her villagers. I think that for teachers, this book would be a great tool to use to help students learn about other cultures around Christmas time. This book could be included in a unit about Christmases around the world where students could explore in greater detail not only their own culture, but what Christmases are like in other countries, such as in Italy.

__Analysis of Literary Element:__

The literary element that I feel is extremely important in this story is the theme, or the story’s main point or message. Toward the middle of the book I believe that, (beyond the theme of sharing the traditions, the culture, the foods, and the beliefs of Italians on special days during the Christmas season), the story really focuses on Big Anthony’s mistake in eating the goat’s food, how his action angered the goat, and how he decides to fix his mistake at the end of the story. Therefore the theme of the novel is about making mistakes, the consequences of a person’s actions when he or she makes the wrong choice and finding a way to fix a mistake. Toward the middle of the story, after Strega Nona finishes making all the dishes for her peacock, her dove, and her goat, she calls Big Anthony inside the house for supper. Before Big Anthony steps inside the house, the “Delicious smells that came out of the kitchen nearly drove Big Anthony crazy” (dePaola 11). Big Anthony becomes really hungry from breathing in all the savory and delectable scents that are flowing out of the windows of Strega Nona’s house. When he runs inside and sees just “a plain dish of pasta from Strega Nona’s pasta pot” (12) Big Anthony is clearly disappointed, especially when he sees “on the counter…four dishes that looked and smelled so, so good” (12). Big Anthony has his own plate of food but he is not satisfied with the food that is on his plate. To him, pasta is “plain” it’s something that he eats all the time; therefore pasta is a food that he takes for granted. When he sees the more elaborate dishes on the counter, he immediately wants to know who the dishes are for (12). Strega Nona explains to Big Anthony that “Those are special dishes for the animals. It’s a special night for them…” (13). Strega Nona informs Big Anthony which dishes are going to which animals and the reason why the animals are receiving such elaborate meals. However, when Strega Nona asks Big Anthony to take the goat’s dish out to the goat shed after he is done eating (13), Big Anthony becomes in a sense, greedy. He already ate his plate of pasta, and he knows the dish is for the goat, who has not eaten her dinner yet. However, on the way to the goat shed, Big Anthony is tempted by the delicious smell of the food. His temptation (which in this sense is greed since he has already eaten) pushes him to do the wrong thing. He decides to “just take a tiny taste” (13) which he believes will not cause any harm. However, when Big Anthony tastes the food and discovers how delicious it is “he tasted more and more” (14). Big Anthony just keeps eating until he realizes he has eaten all of the goat’s food and that there is an “empty plate” (14) in front of him. From the illustration on this page, the readers can clearly see from the expression on Big Anthony’s face, that he is not happy when he realizes he has eaten all the food; he realizes he has made a mistake and this is portrayed when “he quickly filled the plate with hay and oats and left it at the window of the goat shed and quietly ran away” (14). Big Anthony does not tell Strega Nona what he did. Instead he gives the goat hay and oats and runs off which shows his guilt. He wants to escape as fast as he can because he knows he has made a mistake and he probably does not want to get caught by Strega Nona. However, in running away, Big Anthony makes another mistake. He should have told Strega Nona what happened as soon as he realized he ate all of the goat’s food; but he does not. The goat therefore does not have a special meal on the one day that she is given an elaborate dish. The consequence of Big Anthony’s action and mistake is portrayed when all the animals from the village are talking to each other and a few cats ask the goat what Strega Nona gave her. The goat replies “I don’t know. Big Anthony ate it all before I even had a look at it” (19). The goat is clearly resentful toward Big Anthony, especially since Big Anthony ate her food right in front of her. Therefore the goat says “I ate his blanket…I’ll bet he’s so cold that he doesn’t sleep all night” (19). In retaliation for what Big Anthony did to her, the goat eats Big Anthony’s blanket in order to teach him a lesson about eating other people’s food; more specifically her food. She also hopes that Big Anthony is cold all night (which is another way that the goat tries to teach Big Anthony a lesson about the consequences of his actions). Big Anthony however, finds a way to fix his mistake. This is portrayed when Big Anthony gets the piece of cake that has the fava bean in it on January 6th. He becomes the king of the feast and when Strega Nona asks him what he would like for a present, Big Anthony says “A new blanket…And…some of that delicious turnip dish you made for Signora Goat last night” (25)! Big Anthony does ask for his blanket back, but he realizes that getting the fava bean has provided him with an opportunity to give the goat the food she was supposed to get that he ate, without Strega Nona ever finding out. He then fixes his mistake by taking the food out to the goat. “He held out the dish of turnips. ‘Let’s have a truce’” (29). Big Anthony presents the goat with her special dish and they become friends again. Therefore, Tomie dePaola focuses on the idea of making a mistake and this is shown through Big Anthony eating the goat’s food on the Eve of Epiphany. He then demonstrates for his readers the consequences of making the wrong choice, when the goat tells the cats that she did not have a special meal like them because Big Anthony ate her food. She also tells the cats how she ate Big Anthony’s blanket (to get back at him for eating her food). The end of the story shows how when a person makes a mistake he or she needs to find a way to fix the mistake. Big Anthony fixes his mistake by having Strega Nona cook him the food that the goat was supposed to get on the Eve of Epiphany, which he ate. He then gives the food to the goat and they make up. Therefore, //Strega Nona’s Gift,// really teaches the readers, especially children, very valuable life lessons.

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