Sidekick Short: Botticelli's Apprentice (2025) by Ursula Murray Husted

Cover image of Botticelli's Apprentice by Ursula Murray Husted published by Quill Tree Books, 2025.

The Basics

Page Length: 272

Grade Level: 3+

Goodreads Score: 4.01 out of 5

Buy it HERE

Setting: 15th century Italy, Italian Renaissance period

Genre: Middle Grade, Historical Fiction, Graphic Novel

Topics: Art history, Renaissance, Painting, Apprenticeship, Gender inequality, Creativity, Friendship, Bravery

Plot: Mella is a young Italian girl with a secret dream: she wants to become a master painter. Her family works for one of the most famous master painters of the Italian Renaissance—Botticelli—but Mella is not an apprentice. Instead, she is known as Botticelli’s “chicken girl.” Her duties include cleaning brushes and tending to the chicken coop. Girls simply aren’t apprentices; it’s not done.

Botticelli’s junior apprentice, Datus, is a boy—but he’s not very skilled at the “art” part. Desperate to please the master, he takes credit for one of Mella’s sketches. This sets off a complicated situation. Mella has to keep drawing, while Datus takes the credit. Eventually, they strike a deal: Mella will continue creating the artwork if Datus teaches her the apprentice skills—plastering, making tempera paint, preparing canvases and panels, and more.

Mella loves learning, but she dreams of being a real artist—one who receives recognition. An unlikely friendship forms between Mella and Datus, and she faces a tough choice: will she have the courage to defy cultural tradition and forge her own path as a female artist, or remain hidden in the shadows?

Themes: Gender barriers throughout history, friendship and collaboration, girls in the arts, ancient art techniques and culture, courage in identity, craft and artistry

You might like this book if you like:

• comics and graphic novels

• art history, sketching/drawing, painting

• Movies like Sketch or Tangled

• shows like The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross, Art Attack, Pink Painter and Pals

  
  

Other books written by this author: A Cat Story: A Graphic Novel

Book Talk Read Aloud Section

*What is a book talk? (Watch a how to video here. Read my blog post here)

If you have the physical book, read chapter 1 (pages 1-6).

If you don't, read pages1-6 in the kindle reading sample here.

*This reading sample includes all the art notes at the back of the book. They are SUPER cool. give them a look too!