A round-about way of giving insight into Leonardo da Vinci's personality, Konigsburg's story is given from the perspective of one of his assistants. We are also sympathetic to The Duke's young wife and come to respect her honesty and ability to find/create joy in the life she was dealt. Altho we know the book will be about the Mona Lisa, it isn't until the very end that we find out who was the model for this painting. Very creative & believable presentation of life in Renaissance Italy (tho what do I know). I liked hearing about some of the inventions, and all the different interests of DaVinci.
I thoroughly enjoyed this and will keep the book to share with friends & visitors. ( )

this is where I start really appreciating how her protoganists are not perfect and we're not trying to change them so they are.

esp with leonardo, it's gotta be hard not to go all "Great man" trope and make him be everything. instead we see the thin skin and a self-distancing --- and friends who love him for who he is and want him to be happy. loving people as they are is an amazing thing to see in kidlit ( )

Sigh. My pile of books to review is getting so large I'm having trouble seeing my new books through the stack. Guess I'd better get reviewing.

So, this book is kind of weird, and it's one of those "I though it would go this way, but it went that way" books. And not in a good way. It was sad, and it seemed like Konigsburg was just toying with our emotions. I didn't really care about the MC, and when I googled the actual events (it's the kind of book that makes you do research afterward, I'll give it that) it was very clear she took quite a few liberties with some of the actual people involved.
That's to say, it's not all bad. It's educational (it touches on a lot of info about Leonardo da Vinci), and might make people interested in the Mona Lisa. Maybe I'm coming across more negative than I really feel about the book, because I read it a few weeks ago (thus the long list of books to review . . . ), but I didn't feel a spark. Or even a zing. (For those of you who have seen Hotel Transylvania, that make a little bit more sense).

Go read Mixed Up Files. Believe me, that beats this by a mile in every way. ( )

nice story ( )

This is a tale of how Leonardo de Vinci came to paint the Mona Lisa. It also provides an hypothesis as to who the mysterious lady is who became the subject of this famous painting. The main thread through this tale is Leonardo's relationship with his servant Salai, reknowned best for his dishonesty and thievery. The novel was a quick, light read and one must remember that is historical fiction. ( )