Me: Did Bambolona ever resolve the situation with her father? I know she quit and he certainly wasn't doing any work. Or did she become a strega like Strega Nona? I mean, she'd be much better off as a strega than a baker's daughter. Better working conditions as well.

The Rabbit: *falls asleep*

Guinea Pigs: G-1 ate hay before getting comfortable. G-2 seemed to actually listening for once. ( )

Very cute. Can't go wrong with a book that starts off with a girl who gets tired of being used as a workhorse and runs off to become a witch. ( )

Bambolona, the baker's daughter, gets fed up with doing all the work, and goes to Strega Nona for help; Strega Nona invites her to stay and learn magic. Big Anthony, of course, is jealous, and disguises himself as Antonia to try to become a strega. Clever hijinks ensue. ( )

Strega Nona (Witch Grandmother) is helping the residents in her village, this time her pupil is Bambolona the baker's daughter needing magic lessons. Big Anthony wants the magic lessons too, but Nona says that only girls can be Stregas. The next day a tall unknown girl appears asking for magic lessons too. The reader is rewarding in knowing that the big girl is really Big Anthony in disguise and he's up to his old ways - not paying attention or following the rules which get him into trouble again.

So much fun! ( )

Strega Nona and her assistant Big Anthony return in this cross-dressing adventure from author/illustrator Tomie dePaola. When the grandmotherly witch takes on Bambolona the baker's daughter as a pupil, Big Anthony asks if he too can learn magic. Told that men don't become strega (witches), he disguises himself as a girl, in order to take Strega Nona's magic lessons. Unfortunately, his poor memory, inattention to detail, and tendency to use Strega Nona's magic without her supervision, once again backfire, and he ends up turning his teacher into a toad. Can he ever set things right...?

Published in 1982, Strega Nona's Magic Lessons is the third picture-book featuring these characters, following upon the Caldecott Honor-winning Strega Nona and Big Anthony and the Magic Ring (more recently released as Strega Nona's Magic Ring. Although it covers similar territory to those earlier stories, in the sense that Big Anthony once again uses some of Strega Nona's magic illicitly, with poor results, it was still quite entertaining. I did feel rather bad for him, being told that men couldn't become strega, but in the end, his efforts to learn magic were torpedoed by his own laziness and rule-breaking, rather than by his gender. The artwork is every bit as appealing as in previous entries in the series, and accentuates the humor of the story. Recommended to fans of Strega Nona, and to anyone who enjoys magical tales with a sense of humor. ( )