Strega Nona Takes a Vacation

When Strega Nona begins to dream that her Grandma Concetta is summoning her to the old house by the seashore, where they used to holiday together, the kindly witch decides that it is time for a vacation. She enjoys her time away from the little town in Calabria, but when she sends gifts for Bambolona and Big Anthony, and Bambolona (wanting sweets rather than bubblebath) switches the gift tags, chaos ensues. Soon the town is engulfed in bubblebath, and Strega Nona must be summoned to set things to rights...

The eighth picture-book devoted to the adventures of the 'grandmother witch' and her assistants, Big Anthony and Bambolona, Strega Nona Takes a Vacation has the same good sense of humor to be found in the earlier titles, although there show more are no magical contretemps this time around. I had to giggle when the town mayor, seeing Big Anthony being borne along by a tide of bubbles, declared "not again," as this harkened back to the original story, in which Strega Nona's bumbling assistant let an unending stream of pasta loose on the town. Recommended to fans of this grandmotherly witch, and to picture-book readers who enjoy humorous stories. show less

Strega Nona has been dreaming about her Grandma Concetta at the seashore and realizes that though she is in heaven, Grandma Concetta is trying to tell Strega Nona that she needs a vacation. So she leaves Bambolona to take care of her clients general needs and Big Anthony to attend to the animals and property. After some days at the seashore, Strega Nona sends gifts to her friends - bubble bath for Bambolona and candy for Big Anthony. However, Bambolona wants the candy so she switches the tags. Of course, Big Anthony, unaccustomed to bubble bath, uses the entire bottle and floats through the village.

What fun for the reader as well as Strega Nona!

Strega Nona begins having a dream about taking a vacation to the seashore. She goes about her daily business helping the villagers, and again has another dream telling her to take a vacation. So, Strega Nona leaves Big Anthony and Bambolona to take care of the house while she goes on vacation. She sends back two presents – bubble bath for Bambolona and candy for Big Anthony. However, Bambolona wants the candy so she switches the gift tags. Big Anthony uses way too much bubble bath and the city is filled with bubbles. Strega Nona comes home and talks to Bambolona about learning her lesson.
This book was filled with so many illustrations. Many of the pages were almost all pictures with just a line or two of text. There were also show more multiple illustrations on the same page. I really liked that because it allows the illustrator to let you see more scenes.
I thought the premise of this book was cute. It reminds me of a fable because of the moral at the end of the story. I liked that Strega Nona addressed the fact that Bambalona was deceitful and discussed that Bambalona was in the wrong and should never do that again. show less

Tomie dePaola continues the story of Strega Nona. While it is a fun story, it feels like he is stretching to keep her story going.

It has been a long time since Strega Nona had a vacation. At night she dreams she's at her Grandma Concetta's little house by the seashore. During the day she hears Grandma Concetta's voice saying, "Vieni, Nonalina, come." Soon even Big Anthony notices that Strega Nona is distracted--she gives the Mayor the wrong remedy for his headache! Everybody says, "Strega Nona needs a vacation!" But when she sends bubble bath to Bambolona and candy to Big Anthony, greedy Bambolona takes the candy for herself, leaving Big Anthony--and the town--in a sea of bubbles! Only Big Anthony, famous for his problem with pasta, could have trouble like this with soap!

This book is about Strega Nona taking a vacation. She is a witch that heals people of their everyday problems. One day the people began to notice that she needed a vacation. After sending gift to her children that are tending her business and home, she realize once again she was needed at home. I loved the first book. I would beg my mom to read it to me every night. Having a strong Italian heritage this book takes me to what my ancestors spoke. I would have the collection of these books in my personal library for my future children as well as my classroom library to share with my students.

One of dePaola's weaker books, this short story follow Strega Nona as she takes a vacation by the sea. There is very little text, and most of the pages are full-page pictures or comic book style depictions of action. This can lead to cute moments of trying to discern what's happening. Overall the story is very reliant on the Strega Nona franchise, and doesn't have too much of a story besides that. The art is also quite bland for dePaola, and the story is choppy at the end.