Mario's Angels: A Story About the Artist Giotto

by Mary Arrigan, Gillian McClure (Illustrator)

Giotto is decorating a chapel with frescoes, and little Mario longs to lend a hand, but Giotto says no. When Father Prior comes to inspect the fresco, he says, "The sky is too dull. Fix it." So Mario tries to think up ways of brightening the sky. That night, after watching his baby sister, he dreams of wonderful things that will transform Mario's frescoes: angels!

Mary Arrigan's lively, informative text, accompanied by Gilliam McLure's delightful illustrations, reveals what made Giotto di Bondone's work so very special. Together with a note on Giotto and his frescoes, a reproduction of Giotto's Nativity and a photograph of the Scrovegni Chapel, the book gives very young readers a perfect introduction to the 13th-century artist who reintroduced the art of drawing living people from nature, and is known as the father of modern painting.

Genres: Picture Books, Art

32 pages, Hardcover

First published June 6, 2006

About the author

Mary Arrigan is an award-winning writer of fiction for children and teenagers. She has been shortlisted for the Readers Association Award, the Bisto Award and the White Raven Award.

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! Pre-read for CC1 next year. Borrowed from library. Highly recommend. The kids learned who the artist Giotto was and what fresco painting is.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun story about a little boy watching Giotto paint his famous Nativity fresco.
When the prior complains about the sky, Giotto is frustrated and doesn't know what to do. The little boy is inspired by his father and baby sister to suggest angels.

Talks about the fresco process and also about Giotto's idea of what people should look like in paintings.

[Terran · Rating 2 out of 5]

The characters were constantly addressing each other by name throughout their conversation. 'Mario' and 'Giotto' were extremely frequent. It made reading this out loud rather clunky.

[Contemplative · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a story that introduces the 14th century painter Giotto di Bondone. We really didn't enjoy the story that much. I didn't particularly care for the flow. However, it did introduce my 4yr and myself to this artist and the concept of the fresco technique which is included at the end of the book after the story.

[Shelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lovely work of historical fiction about Giotto di Bondone, an artist often referred to as the Father of European painting. Giotto’s work was that first step away from the strict style of flat, unrealistic expressionless Gothic art that had been taught for a centuries. This is a nice story to share with students when covering art history, art appreciation or just for a fun read.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute story to introduce Giotto to my students. The story kept them interested and the illustrations were well done. After the story there was more info on Giotto and fresco.

[School For Wayward Children]

really great, sweet book. Gives a possible background to why Giotto added angels to his work.