Presents a variety of facts about popcorn and includes two recipes.

Strega Nona tries to teach Big Anthony about gardening and the importance of order, but when Anthony does not follow her directions and uses her growing spell, his small vegetable patch turns into an uncontrollable jungle.

Four-year-old Tommy enjoys his relationship with both his grandmother and great-grandmother, but eventually learns to face their inevitable death.

While his wife is away, a lazy man relies on a pooka to clean up the messes that he and his friends make.

When he learns that his mother is going to have a baby, Tommy is very excited and hopes that the baby will be a sister.

A baker loses his daughter but gains a bakery in the grand city of Milano after meeting a determined nobleman and baking a unique loaf of bread.

Text and illustrations retell the story of the Nativity as performed in a children's Christmas pageant. On board pages.

When Strega Nona leaves him alone with her magic pasta pot, Big Anthony is determined to show the townspeople how it works.

Staying behind when their circus moves on, a young clown and a troupe of baby animals put on a special Christmas Eve show for an Italian village too poor to celebrate the holiday.

A houseful of relatives turns "Mrs. C." and Santa's Christmas into a string of surprises, from the arrival of a pet polar bear to Cousin James B.'s flaming plum pudding.