Customer Reviews

Leonardo Da Vinci (Life and Work Of...)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Although some 4-8 year-olds may not be able to handle a full-fledged biography, surely someone can do better than this. I like the cover a lot, but after that it's all downhill. Has the author ever considered writing a sentence that employs a dependent clause? "He had learned so much from Andrea. He had also met many important people. This painting shows us how Leonardo worked. The colors are all shades of brown. Leonardo would add the brighter colors later."

This book is just too simple and dull to convey the dynamic genius of Leonardo da Vinci.

In this media-saturated age, young children are surely not be deprived of images to watch. But how many are encouraged to reflect on the beauty and power of art?

As the mother of a six year-old, I'm grateful for the appearance of this series, The Life and Work of... There aren't many art books for children this age; most are simply too long and involved for young children. Leonardo Da Vinci is filled with large type text, beautiful reproductions, attractive illustrations that advance the story, photos of Italy and France, and, most important, a colorful narrative that is sure to appeal to children 4-8. Given the helpful glossary at the end, I can't for the life of me understand why they didn't add a pronunciation guide for names like Andrea del Verrochio. Still I won't take a star away from this series for the error, because I believe the book is more profitably shared by parent and child than read on its own.