Strega Nona

Bibliographic Citation

dePaola, T. (1983). Strega Nona. Simon & Schuster. NY:Putnam

About the Book

Strega Nona, or grandma witch, is a lady who helps her town by using her magic. Due to her old age, she becomes easily tired and hires a Big Anthony to help her with chores around the house. However, Big Anthony soon learns that she has a magic pasta pot and takes advantage of the first opportunity he gets when Strega Nona leaves the house to try it out. Anthony pays close attention to the spell Strega Nona uses to set the magic pot going, but fails to pay attention to the spell that stops it. He invites the townspeople for pasta after no one believed the magic pot existed and causes chaos when he can't stop the pot from flooding the town with pasta.

The book teaches lessons about following directions, respecting others' belongings, not being wasteful, and taking responsibility for your actions. Readers will surely laugh and enjoy the story, time and time again learning from Big Anthony’s mistake. Being an older book, the illustrations look different from most books out there today. They go perfectly with the time and setting of the story and illustrate the main characters very well.

Connections

Book Trailer

Books with similar themes:

• Stone Soup : An Old Tale by Marcia Brown

• Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig

Other books by author:

• 26 Fairmount Avenue

• Adelita : A Mexican Cinderella Story

Teaching ideas:

• Creative Writing: If you had a magic pot what would you command it to make? Why?

• Research the history of pasta and create a Google Slides presentation including your favorite pasta.

Requirement the Book Meets

• Required book list