Book Review: Strega Nona’s Harvest

Gardening with kids? Here’s a book they’ll love, and you will, too.

Now that I ’m a granny , I ’ve started to revisit the kiddie - light up aisles of the bookshop . A few week ago , I was delighted to discoverStrega Nona ’s Harvest , a unexampled book by Tomie dePaola . Strega Nona , which means “ nan witch ” or “ erstwhile at-bat ” in Italian , is no outflow wimp . She made her unveiling in 1975 , just before my own child entered the world , and she ’s still spry . In this late chronicle , she plant a garden , harvests , and prepares a feast for everyone in the settlement .

constitutional gardeners will take note with approval that Strega Nona gardens the “ correct ” way . She salvage her seeds over the winter , fertilizes with compost and manure , and plants according to the phases of the moon . Her vegetable garden is orderly to a fault . With the assistance of the bossy Bambolona and her helper Big Anthony , she plants a big garden and is rewarded with a liberal crop .

Big Anthony is a bungling and somewhat dimwitted villager who has a penchant for doing thing his own manner . Not one to be micro - manage , he just tosses some seeds of his own into a “ secret ” garden alongside Strega Nona ’s , and it turns into a jumble of advanced vegetable . I wo n’t spoil the surprise by telling you what he does with the magnificent yield ( you ’ll have to read the book for that ) , but the solution is charming .

tike with a practiced attention span will be delighted by the colourful illustration , the village setting , the Italian expressions , and the care to item . Consider purchasing or adopt this book of account if you require to introduce your child to gardening . Strega Nona ’s Harvestmight be just the stirring they need to plant a few cum come spring .

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