Da Vinci (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists)

I like this book for several reasons. First, I like the features that the author added into the book such as some important places and timeline of Leonardo Da Vinci’s life, maps, quiz, glossary, index, and cartoons. The author also used mixed media for the illustrations. The author has cartoon images, sketches of Leonardo Da Vinci’s artwork, as well Da Vinci’s popular artworks. All of these features make the biography more interesting to read. The timeline is also a helpful tool for readers to find the most important events in Da Vinci’s life. I also liked the quiz because it helps the reader recall what they have just read. Second, I also like how the author writes why his work was an important contribution to art history. The show more book talks about his paintings such as the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, and The Virgin of the Rocks. Leonardo’s artwork gives viewers “a feeling of movement that had never been seen before.” The author did a great job of highlighting his artwork and showing the reader that Leonardo was a pioneer of movement in art. The big idea of this book is the importance of art and how it influences people in many ways, especially artists. Venezia writes, “Artists ever since Leonardo da Vinci have learned form the discoveries he made.” show less

Da Vinci was one of the world's most well known artists. Even more than an artist he was an inventor, scientist, musician, sculptor, and mathematician. Humorous cartoons are used along side images of Da Vinci's work to help add some extra entertainment to the book. Da Vinci's techniques are well described and are presented to inform the reader of what makes Da Vinci so special, and why he is still popular today. I liked at the end when the writer made a list of museums to see Da Vinci's paintings at/

"Da Vinci (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists)" introduces young children to Da Vinci and some of his important works. Many pictures of his important works are shown in the book. Some of his notebook pages are also shown. Venezia also uses cartoons to illustrate the text. This book is very light on content but would be good to introduce young children to Da Vinci and his works.

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