Author: Tomie de Paola
Traditional Literature
This is a story about an old lady called Strega Nona, meaning "Grandma Witch," who had a special magical way of solving problems for her town. She could cure illness and help girls find love. She posted a help wanted sign in the town square and so a boy called Big Anthony went to her for the job. She gave him instructions on what to do and specifically said to never touch the pasta pot. Big Anthony did his work and one day spied Strega Nona singing to the pot which magically filled with pasta, however he did not notice her blow three kisses to the magic pot. When Strega Nona leaves for a day, Big Anthony tells everyone he will make them pasta with the magic pot, so he sings to it and the pasta appears. Everyone is happy and full until even when he sang the song, Big Anthony could not get the pasta to stop coming out of the pot. The pasta over filled the pot, her house, and soon enough the town. Strega Nona came back thankfully and blew the three kisses, but as punishment for disobeying her rules, Big Anthony had to eat all of the pasta that filled the town.
This is such a cute story that I remember reading when I was young. It is a fairytale because there is magic involved, but it also presents a very good message. The moral is that it is important to obey rules because you may not know or understand their complete meaning. For younger kids they can apply this to their parents or teachers, a parent might tell them not to do something that they really want to do, and even if they do not explain why, there is probably a very important reason behind that rule. Also, for younger kids, it would be important to explain that magic is not real and there is no magic pot like in the book but that it is still a good story to learn a lesson from.
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