Tomie dePaola: 9/15/34

Tomie dePaola: 9/15/34 - 3/30/20

Like James Marshall, Arnold Lobel, Maurice Sendak, James Howe, Howard Ashman, and Tim Federle, Tomie dePaola was a gay man whose special gift was writing for kids.

A popular writing prompt: Travel through the looking glass and describe the fantasy world that you see. I believe this sort of thing ran through dePaola's head when he invented his most-famous spot, his imagined version of Calabria.

A friendly witch delivers potions; she'll cure your headache, remove your warts, help you to fetch a man. She has a calm and appropriate answer to everything. Her assistant, Anthony, is a mess, and it's basically an act of charity to keep him on the payroll. Meanwhile, a rival, Strega Amelia, is a kind of frenemy....like a gentler version of the Elizabeth Perkins character from "Weeds."

As a teacher, I loved reading the Strega Nona books to my students, and I realized that the special chant could be paired with the tune to "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." Here's how I remember it (incorrectly, I think):

Bubble, bubble, pasta pot....

Make me some pasta, nice and hot.....

Now simmer down, my lump of clay...

And rest until another day....

It's my theory that, as dePaola moved along, he became more comfortable with his sexual orientation. I don't have great evidence. But I can observe that dePaola, in a late book, wrote about his childhood and about the experience of being called a "sissy." DePaola also based a late character--based her explicitly--on Bernadette Peters.

If you search the dePaola archives, you'll find a touching tribute to Gloria Swanson, from "Sunset Boulevard."

I loved this guy. So much wonder. So many gifts that he left to the world.

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