✨The Mona Lisa Vanishes (2023)

By Nicholas Day

With art by Brett Helquist

4Rbooks                                5+/6              grades         6-9

Amazon                                 4.5/5             grade level   5-9

Goodreads                             4.06/5

Common Sense Media             5/5               ages 10+

309 pages

Synopsis

            In 1503, artist and inventor, the brilliant Leonardo da Vinci agrees to paint the wife of a local silk merchant and trader. He works for years on the painting.  It’s small and on wood, not canvas, and he continually adds to it. 10 years later he moves to Rome, taking the painting with him. The next year he takes it with him to France. There he dies and the painting is left to the king who puts it in the royal bathroom.

In the 1700’s, the Louvre is founded and the Mona Lisa is included in its collection.  It is not considered to be that valuable or important.

It was the same in 1911. The Mona Lisa was not the popular attraction that it is today. It was in the Louvre, people appreciated it and wrote about it, but there weren’t fans lined up ever day.  Until August 1911, when it was discovered missing. “How could that have happened,” people wondered.

Two famous detectives worked the case but could never capture the thief who stole the painting, even though there were clues. In 1913, thief returned the painting on his own. The news spread quickly and The Mona Lisa became the tourist attraction it is today. Everyone was curious, “Why was it stolen? Who was the mastermind? Why was it so important?

Parental Guidelines:    medium

There are mentions of historical violence between ruling families in Florence. Bodies are cut into pieces, hands and tongues cut out before the bodies are hung for all to see.

Leonardo like to dissect dead bodies to learn more about how the human anatomy operated.

Leonardo was illegitimate and the word bastard is used.

The lack of opportunities and general poor treatment of women during the Renaissance era is documented.

There is xenophobia, antisemitism, and anti-German sentiment in Europe during the early 20^th century.

Recommendation

            This is an excellent work of narrative non-fiction.  It’s a history book, but written more like a novel. It details the theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911 and subsequent return in 1913. It also includes information about Leonardo da Vinci, life during the Renaissance, information about art, details about detective work and how it has changed, museums and how they protect art (or in this case, failed to), and how media coverage created the Mona Lisa phenomenon.

            I think students who are more into facts than stories will enjoy this book. It has great potential as a homeschool book, a classroom read, or a book for a gifted group.  There are numerous opportunities for extension activities and learning. It has moments of humor and the chapters are short and easy to read. Because of the illustrations and chapter breaks, the 252 pages are more like 220+ of actual text.

            Due to the amount of information, and some of the slightly graphic details, I classify this as middle-school appropriate. 5^th and 6^th graders could handle it with adult guidance.

            The illustrator is the same artist who worked on the A Series of Unfortunate Events books and most of the Blue Balliett books (Chasing Vermeer series). I have enjoyed his artwork before, and found his pictures added to the enjoyment of the book.

            The book has been awarded the Robert F. Sibert Information Book Medal give to the most distinguished informational book published in the United States during the previous year.