I’ve Read ‘Strega Nona’ 100 Times. Now I Feel Sorry for Her Sidekick.

I’ve Read ‘Strega Nona’ 100 Times. Now I Feel Sorry for Her Sidekick.

When I heard that “Strega Nona” is turning 50, I did what any self-respecting book lover would do: I heated up a bowl of pasta and paid the signora a visit. I remembered Tomie dePaola’s Caldecott Honor-winning picture book for the same reasons you might: oodles of noodles pouring out of a cauldron, threatening to overtake a Calabrian village rendered in soothing earth tones; panicked locals; the titular grandmother sorceress who saves the town. …