Strega Nona Has Pasta Power
Strega Nona by Tomie De Paolo
There can be too much of a good thing. So says Tomie de Paolo in his delightful story Strega Nona.
It's not an unusual theme for him. It shows up in many of the books he writes and illustrates. It runs through one of our family's favorite books that he illustrated, Simple Pictures Are Best.
Strega Nona (which means "Grandma Witch") is a folk tale in the classic tradition. It contains a wise woman, a young fool, devout villagers, and a touch of magic. It opens in a small Italian village where we meet Grandma Witch, a woman treated with superstitious respect even by the priests and nuns of the area. We also meet Big Anthony, a large, slow-thinking young man who is Strega Nona's assistant. Through him, we learn why there is such a thing as "too much."
Strega Nona hires Big Anthony to help her with her work, but she warns him to never, ever touch her pasta pot. Do you think he can follow that simple instruction? Well, of course not. Especially not after he spies on her and learns how to work the magic to start it working. It's an enchanted pot, one that overflows with pasta until it is turned off. When Strega Nona goes off to visit a fellow witch in another village, Anthony invites the entire town to dinner. They eat their fill from the pasta pot, but Anthony can't turn it off, which means the pasta keeps coming and coming and coming. It threatens to drown the entire city before Strega Nona returns to set things aright.
While there is nothing heavy-handed about de Paolo's work, he does get across the idea that there are consequences to disobedience and good reasons to respect other people's property. Big Anthony also learns the hard way that too much stuff is a surefire way to a headache and stomachache. The story has a light, lyrical approach with dePaolo matching up the words and pictures so that neither are wasted and each draw you further into the story.
The masterful illustrations are a perfect display of the story. The three-panel strips tell the story quickly of why the villagers love their witch. She cares for them and eases their troubles. De Paolo's watercolors give character and life to each person crossing his pages. He also includes his trademark white dove as well as peacocks and other animals that surround Strega Nona, further illustrating her wisdom and earthiness.
Strega Nona came into being during a faculty meeting when de Paolo was doodling on a piece of legal pad note paper. He drew the little witch and instantly knew that she was Strega Nona, a woman somewhat inspired by his own Italian grandmother and her endless servings of spaghetti. From there the story grew and she became one of dePaolo's most popular creations. He went on to write additional books about her and Big Anthony.
Strega Nona was first written in 1975. It has been awarded a Caldecott Honor, an ALA Notable Children's Book, and been placed on the Horn Book Honor List.
One of the more amusing stories surrounding Strega Nona is that it is constantly billed as a "retelling" and people are constantly thanking de Paolo for telling the Strega Nona stories. This caused him a fair amount of consternation as he thought he had invented Strega Nona and simply used the folk tale structure as a device. He even has "an original tale" written on the cover. So he went searching through Italian folk tale and was able to find no reference to Strega Nona. The story itself is derived from The Porridge Pot, but Strega Nona is dePaolo's own, born in the faculty meeting and fleshed out by memories of his Calabrian grandmother.
