Gr 6-9-While this book offers an intriguing look at the Renaissance, readers seeking a biography of da Vinci should look elsewhere. The strength of this work is in setting the artist and inventor squarely in his world and giving young people an idea of what life was like at the time. Lassieur notes that da Vinci was 40 at the time Columbus first landed in America, giving a sense of major world events. At times, she captures the excitement of this remarkable period of creativity. Unfortunately, there are only a few illustrations of the subject's work, and all are reproduced in black and white. Stuart A. Kallen's Leonardo da Vinci (Lucent, 2000), for a slightly older audience, has a scholarly tone but does a much better job with the pictures even though limited to the black-and-white format.
