Strega Nona

Strega Nona is a children's picture book written and illustrated by Tomie dePaola. If considered as a folktale, the story is Aarne-Thompson type 565, the Magic Mill. It concerns Strega Nona (resembling what would be "Grandma Witch" in Italian, although this would actually be "Nonna Strega", with the two words inverted and the first one spelled with a double n) and her helper, Big Anthony. With only a single "n" (i.e., Nona), the title actually means "Ninth Witch" in Italian. Big Anthony causes the title character's magic pasta pot to create so much pasta that it nearly floods and buries a town. The book, which is likely dePaola's best-known work, was published in 1975 and won a Caldecott Honor in 1976.[1][2] It was one of the "Top 100 Picture Books" of all time in a 2012 poll by School Library Journal.[3] Strega Nona has been challenged or banned in some children's libraries in the United States because it depicts magic and witchcraft in a positive light.[4]