The Night of La Befana

          Why do Italian children hang up a stocking on the eve of the Epiphany?      The Night of La Befana explains this custom with a retelling of the ancient Italian legend in which a reclusive old woman named Befana is the object of curious whispers.      And for what reason?  For sweeping and baking all day long, and singing lullabies to no one at all!        But the appearance of a brilliant star one winter's night changes everything.      Author Maria Centofanti Pritchard and illustrator Isabella Centofanti Alexander are sisters who grew up when life's slower pace invited them to linger long at the dinner table and to listen to  their parents tell of their Old World childhood adventures.      To create The Night of La Befana, Maria and Isabella drew deeply on memories: their father's birthplace in Italy, the hard-working villagers there, and their Italian grandmother who baked bread and sang the ninna nanna with joy and passion.      The Night of La Befana unfolds in a simple y