Leonardo da Vinci

by Emily Hahn, Mimi Korach (Illustrator)

Leonardo da Vinci, inventor extraordinarie and artist, is illustrated beautifully in this historical biography by Emily Hahn.

Genres: Biography, History, Art, Nonfiction, School, Childrens, Historical

184 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

Emily "Mickey" Hahn was called "a forgotten American literary treasure" by The New Yorker magazine; she was the author of 52 books and more than 180 articles and stories. Her father was a hardware salesman and her mother a suffragette. She and her siblings were brought up to be independent and to think for themselves and she became the first woman to take a degree in mining engineering from the University of Wisconsin. She went on to study mineralogy at Columbia and anthropology at Oxford, working in between as an oil geologist, a teacher and a guide in New Mexico before she arrived in New York where she took up writing seriously. In 1935 she traveled to China for a short visit and ended up by staying nine years in the Far East. She loved living in Shanghai and met both Mao Tse-tung and Chou En-lai. She became the lover of Zau Sinmay, an intellectual, whom she particularly liked for his overwhelming curiosity about everything, she felt it rubbed off on her, and together they founded the English-language magazine Candid Comment. During her time in China she learned to smoke opium, persisting for two years until, inevitably, she became addicted; she was then cured by a hypnotist.

In Hong Kong Hahn met Major Charles R. Boxer, a married British intelligence officer; in 1940 she became pregnant and they had a daughter, Carola. Boxer was captured by the Japanese after being wounded in the attack on Hong Kong; Hahn visited him as much as possible in his prisoner-of-war camp, until she and Carola were repatriated to the United States in 1943. On his release they got married and in 1946 they arrived in Dorset where she called herself a "bad housewife". Although Boxer continued to live in England, where he became Professor of Portuguese at London University, Hahn lived mostly in America as a tax exile.

Reviews

[Adayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great biography for the age 8ish to 12 range. I read this aloud but it's not too difficult for a stronger young reader to read independently.

Creepiest parts were the mentions of dissection of human bodies for anatomy drawings. But I thought it was explained well in the book and my 9yo handled it well. But it is something to note when considering.

My little inventor was intrigued by this and never have I had him so eager to narrate.

[Rachel Steiger]

AO year 3 read.

Man, I know he was brilliant but pretty sure Leonardo as a person would have driven me crazy 🤪 A flipperty-gibbet of a genius.

[Jean Bowen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Landmark series is a wonderful resource to have in your home. I enjoyed reading this one to my 7 and 9 yr old. All of us learned a great deal about Leonardo da Vinci's life and the book has ignited a great interest in journaling, drawing, engineering, canal building, painting and further reading.

[Stevie Kinzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read aloud for AO Year 3. “I think it was mostly just the same thing over and over. He just seemed to paint, get asked to paint, get a little pay and then everyone would say that he didn’t really finish anything and then it just started over again. Oh and Yeah there were some wars he went through and just built Machines and stuff.” — EB’s review.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let not your rage or malice destroy a life-for indeed, he who does not value it, does not himself deserve it.
-Leonardo da Vinci

[Eliza Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read aloud for school.

[Kelly Hohenstern · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another landmark book. Learned so much about Leonardo da Vinci that I never knew. The most fascinating was his inability to finish things to his liking. He was never satisfied with his paintings, inventions, writing, anything. In fact, when he died, he actually believed he was a failure! Can you imagine? I wonder if he would believe that now we celebrate him as one of the greatest minds ever!

[Darlene Nichols · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read aloud for school. We learned a great deal about Leonardo Da Vinci and his many interests and inventions. The war parts were slow, but just like Da Vinci, the book mostly kept moving.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved every bit of this information!

[Danielle Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit slow but also super interesting. Leonardo was a pretty cool dude!

[Colin Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was so boring. I didn't like it much.

[Summer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall, I really liked this book! I didn't know what to expect and I was completely bowled over and amazed at how many things we have in daily use from micro to macro that he thought of, made drawings for. or actually made! What a mind. His wide variety of interests I believe, led him to many of the inventions. Observing the birds led to better techniques for his flying machine. The amount of ideas and inventions bouncing around in his head coupled with not having enough help and hours in the day to get all the things was one of his biggest frustrations.

And still, think of all he did accomplish!

The contemporaries in his time: Lorenzo de Medici, Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Raphael, were exciting to think about in the realm of time and what was going on then. And they all are going to make an appearance in my Book of Centuries.

It's also interesting that he was so ahead of his time that people ended up inventing things later that he had already invented prior. It's odd how stilted in progress we actually were in our inventions! Imagine if more people had access to his inventions and notebooks earlier!

His exacting observation skills led him to discover many natural laws that no one before had noticed and wrote down. Leading to connections to some of his machines. I would have loved to see them work in action. An important precursor to robotics. At the end of his life when he was in the court of Francis I in France, it reminded me of the movie Ever After scenes and castle used, and low and behold it looks very similar to the Amboise Castle in France.

The contemporaries in his time: Lorenzo de Medici, Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Raphael, were exciting to think about in the realm of time and what was going on when. And they all are going to make an appearance in my Book of Centuries.

Random thoughts about the book: Chapter 9 was my favorite. I think there is something that made me wonder if he might have been slightly autistic. While reading it G brought up how it was hard not to picture the teenage mutant ninja turtles when I mentioned the artists! And wondered where Donatello fit into the picture, no pun intended. ;)

[Lindsey Carnicella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finished for AOY3 Term 1. Definitely feel like I’ve made a relationship with Leonardo. Reading about him grew my respect for his wide variety of talents and interests, but what surprised me most was the pity I felt for him after learning of several of his failures and of his personal life. This book did a great job of making him human: celebrating his accomplishments and talent and not hiding his flaws. Fun to read alongside the Michelangelo book too! Love all these strong personalities during the Italian Renaissance!

[Ghada Zain · Rating 2 out of 5]

It wasn't what i was expecting at all ! It doesn't go him justice, he is a brilliant person and yet she portrayed him as something else . Half the book was just history and she didn't speak enough about how amazing he was

[Shahrzad · Rating 4 out of 5]

*من یه نسخه خیلی قدیمی‌تر این کتاب رو خوندم.
به نظرم این کتاب رو نمیتونیم صرفا مناسب کودکان و نوجوانان بدونیم و حتی بزرگسال‌ها هم از خوندنش لذت میبرن چون زندگینامه لئوناردو داوینچی رو به زبان خیلی ساده شرح داده.
متن کتاب فقط روی خود داوینچی تمرکز نکرده و وضعیت فرهنگی، تاریخی و سیاسی ایتالیا توی اون دوره رو خیلی خوب توضیح داده به طوری که حس میکنم حتی کسایی که از تاریخ فراری هستن هم این بخش‌ها رو با اشتیاق دنبال میکنن😁
و اینکه ما اکثرا داوینچی رو به خاطر هنرش میشناسیم ولی پررنگ‌ترین خصوصیت داوینچی میل به اختراع کردن و کشف مسائل علمی و .... بوده و خیلی جلوتر از زمان خودش فکر میکرده. این کتاب هم به اختراعات و فرضیه‌های علمی داوینچی بیشتر از نقاشی‌هاش پرداخته.
قطعا کتاب به خاطر حجم کمش نتونسته وقایع مختلف زندگی داوینچی رو کاملا پوشش بده و بازش کنه ولی برای آشنایی اولیه با سرگذشتش+تاریخ اون دوره ایتالیا خیلی خوبه و در کل خوندنش توصیه میشه😊

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t really take to this book, possibly as I read it at such scattered intervals. He seems to have had a life where few of his benefactors really appreciated his genius, and supported him in his ideas, as well as monetarily. Also, he tended to jump from interest to interest (and assignment to assignment), and people got frustrated at that. It’s great that his notebooks were preserved, showing so many ideas that couldn’t be made at that time (or he couldn’t get the support for them) but were later made when others thought of them many years later.

[Kristin Wahls · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pre-read for my son’s Form 2 school year and it was an interesting introduction to the life of Da Vinci. I learned a lot I didn’t know, particularly about his struggles with failure and lack of notoriety. I was also surprised by the immense amount of political instability in the region during his lifetime. It was fun to read about his relationships (or lack thereof) with other prominent artists of the time, particularly Michaelangelo and Raphael. I chuckled at the author’s brief mentioning of the Mona Lisa and how she didn’t find it particularly impressive.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Middle grades children’s biography. The whole book was interesting and informative, and I really enjoyed it, except for one small, incongruous part where the author shares her personal opinion of the Mona Lisa—this seemed out of place. Otherwise, I’d recommend for kids ages 10-15 who are interested in Leonardo and life in Renaissance Italy.

[Shelley Vaughn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Biography read aloud with my 3rd grader. We learned so much about da Vinci… kind of blown away with how intelligent he was and how much more he did outside of art. Overall, the book was slow at times and I felt like we got bogged down in the names and places mentioned. But we invested a lot of time in him and for that reason hopefully what we learned sticks with us!

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book with Solomon for 1st term of grade 3. I enjoyed the book and thought it very interesting. Although I was thinking this would have been good to read during the term we studied Da Vinci as our artist instead.

[Rosie Gearhart · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found my mind wandering a lot while reading this. Interesting life, but the writing could have been more engaging. Disappointing for a Landmark book. I will use this for homeschooling unless I find something better....

[Lindsay Broome · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting " living book" to read as part of our homeschool curriculum. I knew little to nothing about da Vinci, so enjoyed getting a view into his life. Some of the chapters were a bit of a drag going on about different people and cities that don't reappear in the story.

[Cori Thonen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great resource on da Vinci and very succinct and thorough on his life. If it had more illustrations of the paintings, drawings, and sculptures that he made and the book describes, this would be a phenomenal book!

[Rachael · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Leonardo da Vinci book felt more like a general history book than a deep dive into his life. It moved slowly and seemed geared more toward young readers than adults. While his accomplishments were incredible, the book didn’t hold my attention.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book. I learned a lot about Leonardo da Vinci, and I've learned to appreciate him so much more! But I'm giving it two stars... it was very poorly written. :(

[Leah]

AO3

[Alyssa Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, I don't know. As far as "living books" go, this was kind of meh...

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative for sure. It wasn't as boring as a history book, but if it hadn't been a homeschool book, I probably would've abandoned it.

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly this was one of my 7 year old daughter’s favorite books! It was a good read on getting to know the artists and the time frame in history.

[Jennifer Buczynski · Rating 5 out of 5]

We read this aloud for school and I thought it was fascinating! Great book.