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.

More Strega Nona Love

Strega Nona Does it Again - Our heroine, Strega Nona, is known throughout Calabria for her problem-solving skills. She gets rid of headaches and warts, helps bald men grow hair, and helps people find their true love. But when Strega Nona gets a letter from her cousin, Duke Andrea di Limone, asking is his daughter can come for a visit to forget about a young man, she has no idea what she's getting into.

Angelina arrives with more luggage than poor Strega Nona can fit into her little cottage. She makes an unfavorable impression on the villagers when she decides to grace them with her presence.

She immediately presses Bambolona into service as her maid and then forces Big Anthony into becoming her footman. They fetch and carry and wait on her hand and foot. When Strega Nona notices that none of the chores Big Anthony and Bambolona usually do for her are getting done because they are so busy serving Angelina, she decides she must come up with a plan.

No spoilers here, but her plan works and her life returns to normal.

Check it out at your community library or buy it from Amazon.

Strega Nona Takes a Vacation - Even those of us who love what we do need to take an occasional vacation.

When Strega Nona begins dreaming about visiting her Grandma Concetta in her house on the seashore, she begins daydreaming at work, and hears her Grandma's voice urging her to take a vacation to the house at the seashore. So she leaves her home and business in the hands of Bambolona and Big Anthony and heads for the seashore.

She has a lovely, rejuvenating time at the seashore, doing all of things she remembers doing with her grandmother many years ago - swimming, fishing, gathering seashells, watching the sun set, falling asleep to the sound of the waves and the smell of the ocean.

She sends gifts to Bambolona and Big Anthony, which takes us back to Calabria. Bambolona wants the gift sent to Big Anthony, so she switches the gifts and that leads to Big Anthony creating a disaster, reminiscent of the pasta pot debacle of the original Strega Nona story.

dePaola's illustrations of Strega Nona's dreams are my favorite part of this story - beautiful colors that take you right to the seashore and I love the bubbles that remind you it is a dream.

Visit Amazon to add this book to your Strega Nona collection.

Katie's Bookshelf - read aloud video Strega Nona Takes a Vacation.

Jim Henson Company - Strega Nona tells Tomie dePaola a story about laughter being the best medicine

Click here to read "Beginning the Strega Nona Blitz" post.
Click here to read "Wrapping Up the Strega Nona Blitz" post.
Click here to read "Merry Christmas, Strega Nona" post.

Beginning the Strega Nona Blitz

I'm on a bit of a Tomie dePaola binge since reading Tomie dePaola: His Art and His Stories. Though I love his autobiographical stories, my introduction to dePaola's work came when I was teaching 1st grade many moons ago and came be way of the delightful tale of Strega Nona.

He has written quite a few books about Strega Nona and her friends:

• Strega Nona: An Original Tale, 1975 (Caldecott Honor Book)
• Big Anthony and the Magic Ring, 1979
• Strega Nona's Magic Lessons, 1982
• Merry Christmas, Strega Nona, 1986
• Strega Nona Meets Her Match, 1993
• Strega Nona, Her Story, 1996
• Big Anthony, His Story, 1998
• Strega Nona Takes a Vacation, 2000
• Brava, Strega Nona: A Heartwarming Pop-Up Book, 2008
• Strega Nona's Harvest, 2009
• Strega Nona's Gift, 2011
• Strega Nona Does It Again, 2013
• The Magical World of Strega Nona: A Treasury, 2015 includes:

• Strega Nona
• Strega Nona Meets Her Match
• Strega Nona, Her Story
• Strega Nona Takes a Vacation
• Strega Nona's Harvest
• Strega Nona's Gift
• New Introductions to Each Story
• Map of Strega Nona's Town
• Family-Friendly Recipes
• An Original Lullaby with Sheet Music
• A CD of the Lullaby, and Tomie Reading Strega Nona, Her Story

• Strega Nona and Her Tomatoes, 2017
• Strega Nona and the Twins, 2017
• Strega Nona: A Classic Board Book, 2017
• Strega Nona's Magic Lessons (new publisher, new design) (December 5, 2017)
• Strega Nona's Magic Ring (formerly Big Anthony and the Magic Ring) (new publisher, new design) (March 27, 2018)

This list would be a great starting place for an author study on dePaola and/or a comprehensive list for a Strega Nona and friends character study. Big Anthony's character can open up conversations about following directions, being honest, and work ethic. Bambolona's traits are the complete opposite, which makes a great compare/contrast lesson.

Today, I'm going to cover Strega Nona, Strega Nona's Magic Lessons, and Strega Nona's Harvest. In future posts, I'll cover several others.

Strega Nona - Strega Nona (grandma witch) is Calabria's resident healer. She is so busy that she hires Big Anthony to help her with the chores around her little house. Little does she know, Big Anthony rarely does anything right. Strega Nona prepares pasta for supper with her magic pasta pot, and Big Anthony becomes obsessed with the pot, but he is not allowed to use it. When she leaves town, Big Anthony, of course, just HAS to try the pasta pot, with disastrous results.

Storyline Online - Mary Steenburgen reads Strega Nona. She makes the pasta song come alive by singing it and accompanying herself on the accordian.

Tomie dePaola tells how this Strega Nona story came to be.

Strega Nona's Magic Lessons - Bambolona, the baker's daughter has been working for Strega Nona for quite a while and now she wants to learn magic. Strega Nona happily agrees to teach her, and Big Anthony wants in on the lessons. When Strega Nona rebuffs him, he storms off and asks the baker to let him learn HIS secrets. Being Big Anthony, he makes a mess of the bakery and gets sent away. As he mopes through the town square, telling everyone how upset he is that Strega Nona won't give him magic lessons, someone mentions that men can't be stregas. So Big Anthony disguises himself as a woman, returns to Strega Nona's home, and is able to join the magic lessons. It does NOT go well.

Strega Nona's Harvest - Strega Nona teaches Bambolona and Big Anthony how to plant a garden, but naturally Big Anthony doesn't like having to make straight furrows and plant like seeds together. He wants to do things his own way - the lazy way ;) and though he follows directions for Strega Nona's garden he decides he will plant his own garden to show her that being fussy isn't necessary. Unexpectedly, Big Anthony's garden does fairly well, but not surprisingly, it creates complications for Strega Nona. With her usual aplomb, Strega Nona solves the problem.

Check your local library for these titles. Library tip: check to see if your library is connected to any other library systems. Our community has a fairly small library, but titles can be requested from the other branches in our regional library network. 

AND...anyone with a library card from our Kitsap Regional Library system can take it to a Seattle library and get a library card to borrow materials from the Seattle network as well. Your community may have the same type of agreement with surrounding areas, so be sure to ask!

Build your Strega Nona library at home via Amazon:

• Strega Nona
• Strega Nona's Magic Lessons
• Strega Nona's Harvest

Next time: Strega Nona Does it Again and Strega Nona takes a Vacation

Jim Henson Company - Strega Nona tells Tomie dePaola a story about her birthday

• Click here to read "More Strega Nona Love" post
• Click here to read "Wrapping Up the Strega Nona Blitz" post.
• Click here to read "Merry Christmas, Strega Nona" post.