In this non-fiction picture book, Sutcliffe explains the art world in which five hundred years ago, Michelangelo came to sculpt the famous statue known as David.  This statue resides in Florence, Italy in the Galleria dell’ Accademia (an art gallery/museum).  Most young children know Michelangelo as a Teen-age Mutant Ninja Turtle.  But the original Michelangelo of the art world is about as famous as an artist can get.  All of Italy is full of fantastic, unbelievable art, plus the history or story behind the artists is equally fantastic.  I recently spent some time in Florence and got to see the original in the Accademia as well as the copy in front of city hall.  But the story I heard from two different art historians is a little different from Sutcliffe’s.  Her story is a partial truth, significant facts omitted perhaps for the purpose of a young audience.  But the whole truth is very interesting and adds an element that kids will remember.  The story I was told was that the statue David was commissioned by the cathedral in Florence.  Upon it’s completion, the church was horrified at the frontal nudity and refused to have it in the church.  Because of this, it remained outside, in front of what is now city hall (but what I believe then was a palace) and became weathered.  It was decided to move the statue into the newly built Accademia to protect it, and a copy of the statue was put in it’s former location outside.  When you see such flawless beauty, you can only wonder at how Michelangelo was able to create such an exact likeness to man.  The statue isn’t perfect–you can see his arms are longer than should be in order to be proportionate.  But it works.  So how did Michelangelo do it?  Yes, a sculptor needs to see his subject in the stone, however, mathematics play an important role in being able to create such a masterpiece.  Michelangelo built a small model of David and put it into a box, similar to a coffin but without the lid.  He then filled the box with water covering the model.  He slowly released the water and sculpted what was revealed, using mathematical theories devised by Archimedes, and using mathematical proportions to create the giant statue.  As an educator I believe that children, even young children, need to hear the whole story.  This book would be terrific to use to tie together art and math.  Add a science experiment and try the model, box, and water project to see how it works.  The artists in the Renaissance were true geniuses–and we should remember how they did what they did, as well as appreciate the results.  P.S.  As an elementary school librarian, I can already see the bruhaha the nude picture of David will create among students.