Name: Strega Nona
ISBN: 9781442449442

Tomie dePaola

In this e-book edition, Tomie dePaola retells his classic story against a charming musical score. Strega Nona—"Grandma Witch"—is the source for potions, cures, magic, and comfort in her Calabrian town. Her magical ever-full pasta pot is especially intriguing to hungry Big Anthony. Big Anthony is supposed to look after her house and tend her garden, but one day, when she goes over the mountain to visit Strega Amelia, he recites the magic verse over the pasta pot, with disastrous results.

with audio recording

Strega Nona

Debbie

** spoiler alert **
           I found this book in a little café. “Strega Nona” which was written and illustrated by Tomie dePaola is a light reading, so yes, I finished it right away.
It’s a story of Strega Nona, a sort of female witch doctor, her new assistant, Big Anthony, and a magic pasta pot. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Strega Nona helps her fellow villagers with their problems, mostly curing headaches, helping single women find husbands, and sort of things. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
She realized that she’s getting older, so she hired an assistant, Big Anthony, who later caused a problem by singing a spell to the magic pasta pot. The pot later produced large amounts of pasta and flooded the town with it, and that’s because Big Anthony didn’t know how to stop it.
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What caught my attention at the first place was the title “Strega Nona” which means “Grandma Witch”. I’m not sure which language it is, but in my hometown, Papua, Indonesia, people use “nona” to call a young lady. 

I think this is an entertaining folktale with moral values that we can take from it, especially children, such as follow direction or there’s always gotta be consequences they’ll get in their actions. I like the plot and the illustrations are lovely.

Strega Nona with audio recording

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