Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola

Title: Strega Nona 

Genre: Traditional Literature (Folktale) 

Author: Tomie dePaola 

Illustrator: Tomie dePaola 

Major Awards:  Caldecott Medal 

Age group: 5-8

Summary: 

Strega Nona, also known as “Grandma Witch” was a wise old lady in a little town in Calabria. She was very important in this town because she would help all the other villagers by creating special potions in order to cure them from an illness or helping girls find husbands. She was getting too old to keep up with her daily chores and decided to hire Big Anthony to help her out with these chores. She instructs Big Anthony of all the chores he needs to complete on a daily basis, and also gives him a condition to not ever touch her pasta pot. One night, Big Anthony discovers Strega Nona singing over the pasta bowl and sees how it quickly fills up with pasta as she sings to it. However, he misses a very important detail, at the end after Strega Nona sings to the pasta bowl again, she blows three kisses to the bowl and it stops making pasta. A couple of days later, Strega Nona informs Big Anthony that she will be going out of town to visit her friend, Strega Amelia. He finds this an incredible chance to prove to the other villagers that it is true that Strega Nona’s pasta bowl makes pasta. He sings to the pasta bowl and feeds the entire village, however when he sings the final song to the pot it does not stop making pasta. Chaos erupts in the village until Strega Nona sings the final song and blows three kisses to the pot. She believes it will be only fair to have Big Anthony eat the entire pasta since he disobeyed her and all this chaos resulted from his disobedience, so he eats the entire pasta. 

Reason why I would use this book in my classroom: 

I would use this textbook in my classroom because it will teach kids about obeying your superiors, and trust. They will be able to see the cause of being disobedient with your superiors or older people in your life through Big Anthony’s example. It can also teach them about trust by seeing how Strega Nona decided to trust Big Anthony by leaving out of town and leaving him with the pasta bowl.

Appropriate grade level:

I believe this children’s book would be perfect for Kindergarten through Second Grade. 

 

How I might use this book in my classroom: 

To make it fun and interesting for these grade levels, I would read aloud the book first and then create an art activity. I would instruct the students to think of one rule or chore that their parents or guardians ask them to do weekly. I will give them little pasta bowls like Strega Nona’s, and they will write these rules or chores on it. Then, I will make a wall for these bowls in order to serve them as a reminder of the tasks they are having to be obedient to complete.