Aladdin Paperbacks (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) -- tpbNew York -- ©1975 -- 138pp
ISBN: 0-689-82121-2
A story of Leonardo DaVinci, his servant Salai, and the events leading up to the painting of the Mona Lisa.
There are very few authors whose books I will seek out, but Konigsburg is near the top of my list. Everything I've read of hers has been slightly different, and certainly far from "traditional" in the YA genre.
Here Konigsburg offers up some "historical fiction" about Leonardo DaVinci. I rather like the way Konigsburg handles this -- while the book seems to be about the painting of the Mona Lisa, it really is about the events leading up to the how and why of the painting. In fact, we don't meet the woman who sits for the portrait until the very last sentance of the book. This makes complete sense to me because it offers explanation (without being exposition) as to how Leonardo captures the smile and the "inner" soul of the model.
The drawback to this, of course, is that there really needs to be an understanding, on the part of the reader, who/what the Mona Lisa is, and why the painting is famous. Without this knowledge, and without, perhaps, some classroom study, the average reader most likely isn't going to understand what the books leads up to and why it ends just as we meet the title character.
Not my favorite Konigsburg book, but I'd still take a less-than-her-best Konigsburg over most other writers any time.
Recommended.
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