The Kingdom of Spaghetti

March 9, 2009 5:44 PM

Name this young adult book from my youth. It involved a land of pasta...

...and it wasn't Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. It was relatively text-heavy (although I'm almost certain it had illustrations), and also involved some angry-looking marble busts that talked to the main character. Yes, I'd place this firmly in the "magic realism" realm of children's books, along the lines of The Phantom Tollbooth.

If I'm actually recalling a dream, I may have to doubt my own sanity...

posted by shii to writing & language (5 comments total)

This might have been a French / French-Canadian book, so I don't know if we're remembering the same thing...
The pasta-land I'm remembering had spaghetti coming out of some guy's nose -- as in, spaghetti actually was snot. There were a bunch of other "explanations" for other kinds of pasta. That's all I remember. If it's the same book, it might bring you closer to finding its title...
posted by OLechat at 6:01 PM on March 9

Might want to inquire with Project Wombat.
posted by WCityMike at 6:02 PM on March 9

Was it Strega Nona? Not a land of pasta, per se, but the village did get overrun by that pesky little pot...
posted by coppermoss at 6:03 PM on March 9

Also, it's not a close match, but it does involve magic and spaghetti: Strega Nona ...
posted by WCityMike at 6:04 PM on March 9

Heh. Jinx.
posted by WCityMike at 6:04 PM on March 9