Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing (August 31, 2010)
Lexile: 800L
This story is about a witch who can cure anything you need, and she even has a magic pasta pot. One day Big Anthony over hears her chanting a spell to the pot, and all of a sudden she has pasta. One day when Strega Nona is out Big Anthony decides to try the spell on the pot, and it works! Only one problem he did not know how to stop the pasta, so it kept coming and coming and coming. Until it filled the whole town, and as punishment Strega Nona made Big Anthony eat all the pasta.
This is a very well written, and it is very entertaining. It is a pretty difficult read for younger students, and is written for mid to upper elementary. The plot is very unbelievable, but in a story like this it is often not realistic. This story was a fairy tale, and is used to teach a lesson, so the theme was very worthwhile. There is a lot of repetition within the spells, and the author also utilizes the m-dash very often in this text. The author does use foreshadowing when he shows Big Anthony listening to the spell, but not staying long enough to see how she stops the pot. I didn't necessarily feel like I was connected to the characters, and that is something I enjoy out of books. The illustrations are very well done, and add a humerus part to the story. I really enjoyed the part where Big Anthony was trying to stop the pasta, and he sits on it and tips it over but nothing works.
I think the only time I would use this book is either to work on the -ing ending because it comes up very frequently, or when talking about fairy tales.
Thanks for reading!
Gorms
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