[3] Strega Nona has been challenged or banned in some children's libraries in the United States because it depicts magic and witchcraft in a positive light.

However, since Big Anthony cannot stop the pot from cooking, the pasta gradually covers Strega Nona's house and nearly floods the entire town.

Disaster is averted when Strega Nona returns and immediately blows the three kisses to stop the pot's cooking; she punishes Big Anthony by making him eat all of the pasta.

[5] He wrote the words "Strega Nona" next to a doodle of a woman's head he drew in the early 1970s and later made her the main character in his story based on the Sweet Porridge fairy tale.

[6] Later printings of the book bear the accurate subtitle "an original tale written and illustrated by Tomie dePaola".