Strega Nona

Strega Nona

A Children’s Picture Book

dePaola, Tomie.  (1975).  Strega Nona.  New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

This picture was obtained from: http://saras-shoebox.blogspot.com/2009_08_01_archive.html

“She sang,

Bubble, Bubble, pasta pot,

Boil me some pasta, nice and hot,

I’m hungry and it’s time to sup,

Boil enough pasta to fill me up.”

-          From page 6 of Strega Nona

A Little about the Book:

The folk tale Strega Nona is about a grandma witch who has a magic pot, which can make large amounts of pasta.  The witch says a verse and the pot starts filling up with pasta.  When the pot has produced enough pasta she says another verse and blows the pot three kisses, the pot then stops.  The witch needs help around her house so she hires Big Anthony.  One day Big Anthony sees Strega Nona use her pot.  He runs to town and tells everyone about the pot; of course, everyone tells Big Anthony he is telling a lie.  Then one day Strega Nona goes to the mountains.  Before she leaves, she instructs Big Anthony to stay away from the pot.  However, Big Anthony decides to show everyone he is not lying and starts making pasts from the pot.  Everyone eats until they are full.  Big Anthony goes to stop the pot but does not know he has to blow three kisses to the pot.  The pot continues to make pasta, until Strega Nona comes back and stops the pot.  By this time the pasts has started taking over the town.  As a punishment, Big Anthony is required to eat all the pasta.

The Illustrations:

The illustrations remind me of an old Italian town.  Strega Nona is a plump older woman who resembles a witch, but also a loving grandmother.  The boy reminds me of a peasant who is a very hard worker.  The illustrations are very mellow in color.  There are no flashy pictures.  In fact, all of the pictures are very simplistic drawings, which could be recreated by older children. 

The illustrations do a great job at telling the story.  Children would be able to look at the illustrations and understand what is happening without reading the story themselves.

Themes:

·         Following instructions

·         Folk tales

·         Magic

·         Respect

Age Level:

Strega Nona is great for children between the ages of 5 and 9.  The book is very easy to read and understand.  The pictures are not bright and flashy so children under the age of 5 may not appreciate them very much.  The story is not full of developing information; it gets straight to the point so the younger children can easily grasp what the story is about.  Children can also use the pictures to retell the story without reading the words.  This is great for familiarizing students with the way picture books work.

Personal Response:

I had never read Strega Nona before.  Although I had heard many positive remarks about the book.  After reading Strega Nona, I fell in love.  I enjoy the simplistic story, which has magic in it but does not include the typical witches, goblins, and vampires.  I find in today’s literature witches are portrayed as bad and evil.  It was a relief to see in Strega Nona a witch did not harm people but helped people. 

I found the story about the magic pasta pot to be very cute.  The lesson of respect and listening to ones elders is a great one for students to learn.  After reading Strega Nona, I came up with millions of discussion questions to use with kids.  Strega Nona is a classic story, which will easily survive for many years. 

I would suggest Strega Nona to everyone.  It is a great story to share with your kids, read on your own, or use in a classroom.

Teacher Ideas:

http://www.brighthub.com/education/k-12/articles/67422.aspx

This website provides a variety of social, math and language arts ideas for teachers to use when using the book Strega Nona as a unit plan.  There are some great ideas for using maps, sorting, and feelings.  This website provides great activities for children in Kindergarten and Grade 1.

http://kupferbergcenter.org/revelations/teacher_guides/strega_nona_tg.pdf

This website provides a variety of art ideas for children in Kindergarten to grade 3.  There are also instructions on how to create a play.  This website also provides various social and math lessons for students.  This is a great website to get various art ideas from. 

Watch Strega Nona Here:

Click here to watch Strega Nona