Strega Nona Celebrates 40 Years

Is there ever such a thing as too much pasta? While that sounds like a question whose answer should be "No!" for one town there is a resounding "YES!" The tale of Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola is celebrating 40 years of an enchanted pot, lots of pasta, and one boy named Big Anthony who didn't know the power of three kisses! At the most recent Simon & Schuster preview Tomie dePaola graced the room with his wonderfully happy presence to read the folk tale he cooked up from scratch. It was story time for librarians. The author illustrator spoke a bit about his relationship with libraries and how as a little boy he wanted to go to the school library so badly, but he was in kindergarten and kids weren't allowed until first grade! Tomie shared that he always knew the power that books held saying, "I knew that books contained everything I wanted to know." Take a look at the clip below of Tomie dePaola reading the beginning pages of Strega Nona!