Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola

Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola is a retelling of the Porridge Pot Story but in dePaola's own words. It is a folklore story about Strega Nona(Grandma Witch) who uses her magic to help people with their everyday problems. She hires a young man to help her with her housework, who ends up being overcome with curiosity about a magic pasta pot, and disregards his responsibilities and ends up having to face the consequences of his actions. The young man's curiosity almost destroys the village which enrages the townspeople. Strega Nona comes back to the town and with her wisdom she is able to save the town and the young man, by making him face the consequences, which are fair, but also very grueling.
dePaola is able to capture both the Italian feel of the town of Calabria, and the characters emotions by using watercolor. The use of red for the roof tiles and the beige for the buildings, lets the reader understand the importance of the Italian culture to the author. The white doves, which are near Straga Nona in many of the illustrations, represent how wise she is. The illustrations flow with the text making it very easy for the reader to follow the story. Trough the use of watercolor and well written text, dePaola is able to teach a lesson of responsibility that readers of all ages are able to enjoy.

dePaola, Tomie. Strega Nona. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1975.