Thursday, July 26, 2018

Wrapping Up the Strega Nona Blitz


Strega Nona: Her Story as Told to Tomie dePaola: Though it was published 21 years after the original Strega Nona story, this is a prequel. It tells the story of Strega Nona's birth which explains her close connection to Grandma Concetta whom we meet in Strega Nona Takes a Vacation, gives us a glimpse into how Grandma Concetta taught Nona to be a strega, introduces us to Nona's childhood friend Amelia, whom we meet in Strega Nona Meets Her Match, refers to Grandma Concetta's seashore cottage where she retires after turning the business and home over to Nona, teaches us the origin and secret of the magic pasta pot from the original Strega Nona, and lets us peek at Strega Nona's first meeting with Big Anthony.

You can purchase this book at Amazon, or check it out from your local library.

Maggie Gannon reads aloud Strega Nona: Her Story as Told to Tomie dePaola




Strega Nona Meets Her Match: We meet Strega Nona's childhood friend, Amelia, once again. She is a strega in a town over the hill from Strega Nona. She uses all the latest "scientific" equipment to do her work and looks down a bit on Strega Nona's "old" ways. When Amelia comes for a visit and sees how much business Nona has, she moves her business into Calabria and takes all of Nona's customers.

It gets so bad, that Strega Nona can no longer afford to employ Bambolona and Big Anthony. Bambolona goes back to her father's bakery, but Strega Amelia is happy to hire Big Anthony.

Things are going so well, that Strega Amelia leaves Big Anthony in charge and goes back over the hill to get the rest of the belongings. Big mistake. And just like that, Strega Nona is back in business.

Amazon carries this book if you can't find it at your community library.

Katie's Bookshelf read aloud of Strega Nona Meets Her Match

Jim Henson Company - Strega Nona tells Tomie dePaola a story about being scared

Click here for "Beginning the Strega Nona Blitz" post
Click here for "More Strega Nona Love" post
Click here to read "Merry Christmas, Strega Nona" post.

2 comments:

  1. Strega Nona is one of the BEST children’s books out there!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Soft spot in my heart for Tomie de Paola and his Nona
    —MC

    ReplyDelete