Customer Reviews

Strega Nona's Magic Lessons

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Poor Big Anthony! He tries so hard, but he just hasn't quite learned that his talent lies in other areas. You and your child will love this tale told by Tomie de Paolo (the master!). The artwork is colorful and the story is full of grins and giggles. Girls will like this book because the girl in the story can do things better than Big Anthony. Boys will like this book because it shows that you can make mistakes and learn from them. I loved it, and so will you.

In Strega Nona's Magic Lessons we once again join Strega Nona as she teaches Bambalona and a surprising new student Antonia (Big Anthony in disguise) to be Strega too. Bambalona learns well while Antonia struggles and gets it all wrong (humorous and expected, given Big Anthony's past with Strega Nona). When the day comes that Strega Nona gives Bambalona her spell book to study and tells Antonia that she's not ready yet, well, Big Anthony can't accept that and sneaks out in the middle of the night to get the book....and that's when he does it again, he messes with Strega Nona's magic and turns her into a frog. Both he and Bambalona are horrified and worried that they'll never get her back. As usual its love, honesty, integrity and a little forgiveness that wins the day. Another fine addition to the Strega Nona series! Readers will love this fun and silly look at what makes the world go `round. I give it five stars, I love the charming and timeless quality of the stories and illustrations (which are simple yet have a strong old world flavor that is ever so appealing).

The three main characters in this book are Bambolona, Strega Nona, Bid Anthony, and Antonia. The story starts off with Bambolona having to work at her father's bakery. She always had to wake up before the sun rise and was sick and tired of it. She told her father that she had too much to do and that she could use some help. Her father just told her to get up earlier. Bambolona has enough with working athe the bakery, so she decides that she is going to go see Strega Nona, so she can learn how to do magic.
Strega Nona is overjoyed to have Bambolona learn magic. Big Anthony, who works around the yard outside and around the house, wanted to learn magic too. Strega Nona says no to him. Big anthony gets upset and decides to go work at the bakery. the baker fires him because he eats the food and doesn't do what he is told. he decides to go back to Strega Nona's house.
When Strega Nona answers the door, a girl is standing there and is named Antonia. Strega Nona is happy that she is there and will teach her magic too. Bambolona does a great job and Antonia doesn't do anything right. Strega Nona thinks that Bambolona is ready for harder magic. Antonia thinks she is too, eventhough Strega Nona says no.
Antonia decides to steal Bambolona's book of hard spells. The next day, she tries to turn an iron kettle into gold. She ends up turning Strega Nona into a toad. She didn't know what to do, so she decides to ask Bambolona for help. She says she can't help her.
Will Strega Nona ever become human again, or will she stay a toad forever? Read the book to find out. I enjoyed this book because my parents use to read it to me all the time when I was younger.

My second grade class has been doing an author study on Tomy De Paola. They just heard "Strega Nona's Magic Lessons" and loved it. Every child laughed at the part where Big Anthony dressed up as a girl. As a language arts lesson they wrote a sentence about the beginning, middle, and end of the book with illustrations. If you visit our web site and make sure to see Alex's and Kevin's page. They drew pictures of Big Anthony that are simply adorable.

I just returned from reading this to a classroom of 2nd graders (basically, 7 and 8 year-olds).

This book seemed to be at just the right level for these kids. Most of them understood how Strega Nona and Bambolona tricked Big Anthony, but a couple didn't seem to. This, to me, is an example of how one book can provide opportunities to test a child's power of perception or provide him or her a new way to look at things. Nice.

As a read-aloud, the book is just about the right length (maybe a tiny bit long), and there are several opportunities to use character voices, making it a lot of fun and captivating. Many of the pages contain small-ish pictures, so it is not ideal for holding up and showing to a class unless you can sit very close to them. This book would be even better for a child in your lap or as a bedtime story, where a child can look at (for example) the dichotomy between the results of Bambolona's use of magic and Big Anthony's sad attempts, even while you're still reading the words (a great example here where the pictures contain more story than the words).

Something that places this book above many shorter or "younger" picture books is that the storyline include a minor subplot (Big Anthony, feeling slighted by Strega Nona, goes to work for the baker, who, since Bambolona has left, needs an assistant). It works without taking up too much space and detracting from the main storyline. Plus, the book contains a small amount of Italian (always translated immediately).

So... creative, funny, and provides learning opportunities (did I mention that Big Anthony learns a lesson in it as well?). How can you go wrong?

I didn't know the Strego Nona series was being read as part of the early grade school cirriculum when I purchased them for my 3 year old. When I found out, I was concerned that the book would be too complex to be enjoyed by a toddler. My daughter unexpectedly fell in love with the characters. The illustrations are "old worldly" and adorable. She giggles when Big Anthony is naughty and doesn't listen to the baker and Strega Nona (his employers at different times). My daughter always says Big Anthony needs a time out so he will listen. I'm not sure if she understands that the heroes in this book and the original are intentionally smart independent women, but I'm glad to have her exposed to that concept. Greatly entertaining with subtle morality. Highly recommended!

The book arrived in a timely manner and in very good condition. We are very happy and would order from this vendor again.

This is a great entry in the Strega Nona series by dePaula. There is drama, conflict, danger, comedy and a happy ending, as Strega Nona saves the day, again! The entire series presents a compelling narrative of life in small town Italy of a few years ago, but evokes a picture of modern Italians as well. I am buying the series for my niece but these books are also suitable for an adult who wants to relieve the memories of a childhood with an Italian mother, grandmother or aunt. And they are perfect for passing down to the next generation.

My daughter loves Strega Nona, so I decided to try this sequel to the original. The illustrations are great, as before, but the story is so-so. For one thing, it reinforces gender stereotypes in telling us that Big Anthony cannot train to be a strega, only the girl character Bambolona can. And it gets too complicated and strung out, loosing momentum with a detour about Anthony trying to be a baker.

As a wiccan, it's important to me to show my daughter positive examples of witches in stories and through my own actions...her auntie sends her Strega Nona books for every special occasion and she LOVES them! She's still too young to understand much of what goes on, but she loves it when my husband or I change voices to give life to certain characters (she loves my husband's Big Anthony voice) and at 1 year knows already which one in the pictures in front of her is Big Anthony, which one is Strega Nona and now which one is Bambolona! BIG Bravo to Tomie de Paola for showing folks out there that witches can be good and wise...and fun!