Leonardo Da Vinci

     Leonardo Da Vinci is one of the best known artists in the world, and introducing him to small children is vital to their understanding of art history. The books I examined, several of which can be used with younger children, range from simple to more complex biography, along with picture books about the story of the theft of "Mona Lisa" from the Louvre in 1911.
     Two picture books concentrate on the theft of the painting, rather than the artist and his body of work. Who Stole Mona Lisa? by Ruthie Knapp and The Mona Lisa Caper by Rick Jacobson both employ the device of having the painting tell the story in the first person. Both books are somewhat sympathetic to the thief who claimed to have stolen the painting in order to restore it to Italy, believing it to have been stolen from that country many years before. Who Stole Mona Lisa? can be read to the youngest children and The Mona Lisa Caper can either be read aloud or given to children older than eight to read on their own.
     A short biography of Da Vinci that can be used as a bridge from the picture books to the longer works is Da Vinci by Mike Venezia, part of the series, "Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists." Clear, simple text works well with reproductions of Da Vinci's art and a few comic strip illustrations.
     For upper elementary and middle grades, I found the Golden Kite Award winner Leonardo: Beautiful Dreamer by Robert Byrd (who did the wonderful illustrations for the Newbery winner Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz) to be very interesting and most successful with young readers. (A nine year old boy I know liked it very much.) The illustrations call to mind early Renaissance art, and the details of Da Vinci's life that are included work very well with information about his pursuits. While I am not always a fan of sidebars and busy pages, I thought that in this book they added to, rather than detracted from, the overall impact of the book. This book does not concentrate on either the art or the science, but provides a larger, more intricate picture of the man and his amazing mind. "The Last Supper" and "Mona Lisa" are appropriately featured and do not overwhelm the rest of the book.
    If you seek biographies for older children, I would highly recommend Diane Stanley's Leonardo Da Vinci. This ALA Notable provides the best biographical information as well as gorgeous illustrations, a pronunciation guide, historical context, and a bibliography as well as suggestions for further reading for children.