Michelangelo

Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists

by Mike Venezia

Describes the life of the Italian Renaissance artist and examines some of his paintings and sculptures.

Genres: Art, Biography, History, Nonfiction, Childrens, Picture Books, 2nd Grade

32 pages, Library Binding

Published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Reason]

I read it for my school. K12

[Coco Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

A full bodied biography for children about Michelangelo. This book does not provide an in depth look into the authors life and just touches on the surface of his most prominent life events. I loved this authors biography on Van Gogh and found myself more disappointed in Michelangelo. One section showed paintings of others whom inspired Michelangelo but it confused my kid about who’s paintings and sculptures we were looking at.

[Briana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book brought great memories of me reading these books at the after school program I was in in grade school. As a kid, I absolutely loved this series, entranced by the combination of the "classic" art and the cartoons the author added. I'm not in love with this series but it's still a good series for kids to learn about art.

[Carole Skees · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute perspective on a great artist that lacks just a bit of interesting facts.

[Guan Yuan · Rating 5 out of 5]

it's a worth for learning and art history of the Florence and on the other hand,the pictures is worth ten thousand words!
my favorate book,it is!
Guan yuan

[Keri]

also DVD at library

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used this book with my little kids (7 & 9) for a homeschool unit on the Renaissance. We read this and watched "The Agony & the Ecstasy" . . .

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although written for elementary readers, I enjoyed the detailed photos and learned more about the life and art of Michelangelo.

[Christabelle]

We really like this series! The combination of cartoon explanations and photos of art are perfect. The timeline in the beginning is very helpful, too.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy fun way to learn some interesting facts about the great Michelangelo. Illustrations of some of his art and sculptures were good.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent book from the series. Here we briefly meet Michelangelo and some of his works. This is not indepth by any means so is best used for the younger grades. In the middle to junior high grades you'll want Diane Stanley's book.

I think this is a valuable resource either for artist study or history study, but please read the notes below, especially if you have girls.

Nudity discussion -
I was a bit concerned about how the author would handle some of Michelangelo's works, which involve many naked persons. The statue David is shown from the waist up, as seen on the cover. There is a photo of the Madonna and Child which shows the child's boy part. The older boys were a little embarrassed, but it wasn't bad. The 4-yr-old started giggling and we had problems keeping him quiet the rest of the time. He also searched for parts in all the rest of the paintings and sculptures. The book also shows the Creation of Adam with his stuff and a couple cupidy angels with theirs. Again, the older boys (ages 8) handled it just fine, but the 4-yr-old was a little immature about it. Well, he's a little immature about a lot of things. You could cover stuff up with something or you could use as is and discuss modesty. Or you could skip it if it makes you uncomfortable.

[Jon Hewelt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this a while back: now playing catch-up.

Mike Venezia's Michelangelo was a nostalgic read for me. As a kid, I absolutely devoured this series, entranced by the juxtaposition of "classic" art and the then more accessible cartoons he added to the mix.

I read a few books in the series about a month ago, and the ones that stood out continue to stand out.

Unfortunately, the book on Michelangelo did not stand out all that much for me. It's not that I dislike his work as an artist, but as far as juvenile biographies go (which as you know, I read so many of them), this one felt fairly straightforward.

The one interesting point, for me, was the mention of religion influencing Michelangelo's work, especially regarding the Sistine Chapel.

There's so much to say about the artist's relationship to the church, and much of it too complex for your average kid to handle in one sitting. Still, Venezia does a good job touching on the important points of Michelangelo's work, inspiring readers to study his art further. I especially appreciated the brief exploration of Michelangelo's sculptures, and the immense amount of detail he put in each work.]

Venzenia's cartoons weren't all that memorable in this version. Still. Not bad.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a fascinating read that introduces children to an artist and many of their works in a fun and interesting way. I appreciate the refresher as an adult! Some of the humor is lost on my children who are very literal. I find myself having to explain some of those things and sometime just passing over it.

Other reviews have commented on the works that show nudity. One could go through and cover it up with post it notes. Or just don't make a big deal about it, deal with it appropriately... or don't read this book. Just know that when you go to an art museum you won't have the option to cover it up but you can talk about it in appropriate ways. When I read this to my kindergartner she didn't really notice but she notices everything now as a first grader. It wasn't that big of a deal and no she didn't sit there gawking... we just moved on. To be honest she just said she didn't like it and wanted them to put clothes on. HA! So, do what you need to do for your family but this is a fun book. I am interested in looking at more from this series.

[Barbara M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed before sending to my grandchildren as a support for our Skype reading of "From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler" which we will start this Sunday. The book is a very good, brief description of the life of Michaelangelo from the time of his birth through his training and then the work on the Sistine Chapel. It made clear the issue of painting the Sistine when his first love was sculpture.

There are some excellent photos of his beautiful sculptures with some of them as detail pieces. Included are also some humorous little cartoons to appeal to children to cover the times in Michaelangelo's life for which there are now illustrations.

[Deanna Sutter · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was okay. I liked the Leonardo book by the same author better... It did familiarize my children with Michelangelo. Like the Leonardo book-why do we have to have the naked pictures in a children's book? The funny thing was that it was not even the picture of the statue "David" that was the problem (they only showed him from the waist up) it was some other ones.

[Hilary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This slender volume packs in a lot of information about Michelangelo and some of his works. Though not comprehensive, the volume serves as a good introduction and is enhanced by full-color reproductions of the actual paintings and Venezia’s clever illustrations. Michelangelo’s paintings include some frontal nudity; if this is approached matter-of-factly, this should be a non-issue.

[Shelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists, Michelangelo is another nice edition in this fantastic collection by Mike Venezia. These books are perfect for exposing elementary and junior high aged students to a large variety of artists and styles of art.

[Chastity · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good intro for the younger grades.

[Diane Blum · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a typical Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists. I just added it to my collection so I have an introduction for the little boys. It's cute.

[Nevada Libert · Rating 4 out of 5]

amazing talent he has i think that it is beonde neat.

[Beyond the Pages with Eva K · Rating 5 out of 5]

This entire series is so helpful for basic introductions.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book for teaching art to kids...or learning the basics for yourself!

[Twotwo]

Ar 5.0

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good introductory book for younger kids, would keep them interested.

[Terri Stuart]

Venezia, Mike. Michelangelo (1991) This children’s biography about Michelangelo is actually one book in a larger set titled “Getting to know the World’s Greatest Artists.” At 32 pages, at least as many pages are filled with pictures as they are with words. Split between humorous cartoon style pictures depicting the time and photographs of Michelangelo’s actual work, the illustrations compliment the text nicely. The humorous cartoon pictures may even encourage students to engage with this piece of nonfiction literature a little more. The simple text shares the highlights of Michelangelo’s life growing up in Italy as well as highlighting his most famous works of art. This is a good preliminary introduction to this famous artist’s life. Target audience: 1st to 3rd grades