Lady with an Alien: An Encounter with Leonardo Da Vinci (Art Encounters) [Hardcover]

Mike Resnick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2005 | Series: Art Encounters

• Sci-fi author Mike Resnick has won more awards than Ray Bradbury or Isaac Asimov


• Leonardo da Vinci, star of the best-selling The Da Vinci Code, is hot


• Time travel, adventure, humor—Lady with an Alien is an Art Encounters tour de force!


Lady with an Ermine, Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait of a patron’s mistress holding the symbol of her lover’s family, is perhaps his most beautiful painting. But…is that what ermines really look like? Mike Resnick, the author of Hugo Award winners Kirinyaga and Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge, presents an exciting reimagining of this great painting in his first-ever book for young adults. The time-traveling hero, Mario Ravelli, develops a unique friendship with Leonardo da Vinci during a vacation from 2523 A.D. The story of how Mario’s pet becomes the lady’s ermine makes for an intriguing, entertaining journey to Renaissance Italy, and gives a unique look at the work and the creative process of a great master.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-9–The premise of Lady is that as Leonardo is painting Lady with an Ermine, which began as a portrait of the Duke of Milan's mistress, Cecelia, and her cat, he is interrupted when he finds a blue, ferretlike animal in his studio. The animal is soon joined by his owner, Mario, a boy who has traveled from a 24th-century planet to learn firsthand about the Renaissance. He discovers that his lost pet, Melody, escaped to Leonardo's house and has become a subject in the artist's famous notebooks. Having become fond of the unfamiliar creature, Leonardo substitutes the alien for the cat he so dislikes. History aside, this fictional work will capture the interest of middle school students and perhaps teach them something about Leonardo and Renaissance Italy. The book includes a short summary of the artist's life and work, some black-and-white illustrations of paintings and notebook sketches, and a suggested resource list of works about the painter.–Pat Bender, The Shipley School, Bryn Mawr, PA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 6-9. The Art Encounters series of novels gets a Close Encounters twist when Leonardo da Vinci meets a blue creature from outer space. Leonardo befriends its guardian, Mario, a human time traveler from the year 2523 C.E., with whom he discusses his techniques and philosophy ("I am a realist and a scientist") and, in exchange, receives carefully edited details about the far-off future. In a somewhat convoluted conclusion, Resnick, a Hugo Award-winning sf author, proposes that the pale, rodentlike critter in da Vinci's painting Lady with an Ermine (reproduced on the front cover) was Leonardo's sly homage to Mario's pet alien. The energetic exchange of ideas dominates this series entry, leaving characterization and dramatic tension neglected, but it still serves as an offbeat option for introducing the iconic Renaissance man to high-school art-history students--one that may prove more appealing to some than a traditional textbook. A preface and afterword celebrate Leonardo's genius and explain Lady with an Ermine's provenance; further end matter includes a time line, a black-and-white reproduction of Mona Lisa, and images from Leonardo's sketchbooks. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill (September 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 082300323X
• ISBN-13: 978-0823003235
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 0.7 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,915,643 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mike Resnick is the author of numerous science fiction novels and short stories, including Dragon America, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider: The Amulet of Power, Mutiny, Return to Santiago, and Santiago. He is the editor of This Is My Funniest and has won five Hugo Awards and the Nebula Award. He lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Visiting Leonardo from the Future, September 3, 2005

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lady with an Alien: An Encounter with Leonardo Da Vinci (Art Encounters) (Hardcover)

What happens when a science fiction writer looks at Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting 'Lady with an Ermine' and gets the idea that this isn't an ermine at all? Perhaps instead it's an alien creature. Perhaps a person from the future bored with life there decides to go back to visit with Leonardo and takes his pet from the future with him.

A little improbable, but most fiction is. And the writing of life in the Italy of Leonardo's time shows that he conducted a great deal of research on life at that time. And as the author says, 'it was fun to visit with Leonardo while I was writing this.'

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Paradox of time travel and the effects on the past., February 23, 2008

By 

Bridget Forestcats "norwegies" (Montclair, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lady with an Alien: An Encounter with Leonardo Da Vinci (Art Encounters) (Hardcover)

The imagination of looking at this famous Leonardo Da Vinci painting and questioning how out of place an ermine would be as an artistic prop is delightful. The premise of a young teenage boy time traveling to 1490 a.d. in order to observe the master at work. However when the boy's pet alien gets left back in time and Da Vinci finds the pet the questions begin. I greatly appreciated the perspective of both the main characters and the many quandary of what to share and what to keep secret from the past and from the future. A very enjoyable day read.