Angelo

This poignant story of an artist and a wounded pigeon reveals the craft of architectural restoration as Angelo works high above the rooftops of Rome, restoring the façade of a once glorious church. Among the sticks and feathers to be cleared away, Angelo discovers a wounded bird. Finding no safe place to leave her, Angelo becomes the bird’s reluctant savior. As his work on the church nears completion, Angelo begins to worry about the future of his aviary friend. “What will become of you? Where will you go . . . where will you . . . live?” he asks her. Angelo's solution for his friend touches a reader's heart.

Angelo restores churches for a living, and one day, while out on the job, he encounters an injured pigeon. He takes the bird home, and gives him an enormous amount of TLC. Caldecott Medal-winning author and illustrator David Macaulay created a humorous, yet touching, illustration of the bird in a make-shift hospital bed, built by Angelo. On another page, we see diagrams and a kind of anatomy book, all about pigeons. The bird recovered, and after a brief stint as a piazza actress (my favorite detail in the story), returned to Angelo, as she noticed he was aging, and taking more time to complete his restoration work. "She fanned him with her wings," and "she carried his handkerchief to a nearby fountain and soaked it in the cool water," show more to help her old friend. Silvia, as the bird was later named, stayed beside Angelo until he finished his last church project. Knowing that his life was near its end, Angelo made sure to do one last thing for his beloved Silvia. I will leave that a secret for the reader to discover. In addition to the aforementioned illustrations, there are many other drawing details that will put a smile on readers' faces. The cartoon drawings reveal how close Angelo and Silvia were. Readers will see Silvia's picnic canopy, Angelo's effort to hold headphones for her, their car trips, matching scarves, pasta renderings, and group photo. The story, in my opinion, will appeal to readers of all ages. It is a unique, but classic, story of companionship, generosity, love, and loss. show less

Angelo is about an elderly Italian man named Angelo, who works on architecture buildings by restoring their beauty. One day while working on a building he stumbled upon a bird nest with a bird in it that appeared to be hurt. He told himself that he would only take the bird to find her help. While on his walk home, he did not find anyone to care for the bird, so he brought the bird home. As time went on, Angelo helped heal the bird and off she went. Before the bird flew off, he named her Sylvia. Sylvia did not go very far. She always stayed close by to watch Angelo. As more time went on, Sylvia noticed that Angelo was becoming slower and slower at his work as he was getting very old. Sylvia would come by and help Angelo with his work and show more dip his rag in cold water for him. Angelo knew his age was catching up to him, but all he wanted to do was finish his last project on restoring this old church. He finally finishes and he made sure to add one special touch to it. He leaves behind in the spot where he found Sylvia with sticks, and a feather to remember her. No other worker touches this as they work on it in the future time. This was a very heart touching story and I truly enjoyed reading this book. While reading it, I almost felt like myself was Angelo and formed the relationship with Sylvia. show less

"Angelo" is about a nice elderly Italian man who restores old churches and nurtures an injured pigeon back to health. The story is gentle and highlights compassion and appreciating the finer things in life. The illustrations are creative and add depth to the book. There is much more to the story than just the printed words, and there are delightful discoveries to be found on every page.

"Angelo" by David Macaulay is about a man named Angelo that words oin restoring a chapel in Rome for many years. One day Angelo discovers and injured pigeon and helps it back to health. The pigeon helps Angelo with his work until he dies. An interesting and sad story about work, life, and preservation.

This is a prototypical "odd couple" story...one character damages church facades, and the other restores them; what basis is that for a friendship? Of course, compassion is the basis, and also the basis for the unfolding of this wonderful story. In the telling, Macaulay gets to show off Rome as it should be appreciated, close up from wonderful angles.

Angelo is an elderly restorer of church exteriors. He finds an injured pigeon and nurses it back to life. The pigeon in turn cares for him, until he finishes his restoration and passes away.