Da Vinci: Renaissance Painter

by Brendan January, Paulo Rui (Illustrator)

A picture book biography of the famous artist, inventor, and architect.

32 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Brendan January has an A.B. from Haverford College and an M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University. He has written numerous nonfiction titles for young readers.

Reviews

[Andrea Renfrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Great Names series biographies are fantastic resources for attentive listeners. Kiddo is seven and we've collected almost all of them. We read Michaelangelo over the course of a week, but we read Da Vinci in one sitting.

[Keri Rohr · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very neat biography for grades 4-5. This book did nothing but keep me interested about Leonardo Da Vinci. His life is so interesting and full of things that I never knew about him. In fact, the book states that most of his life and thoughts are completely unknown. Da Vinci is a mystery.

[Becky B · Rating 3 out of 5]

A biography of Leonardo Da Vinci told in story form for elementary students. Paolo Rui's illustrations mimic Da Vinci's style and often include copies of Da Vinci notes and masterpieces. A nice introduction to Da Vinci for elementary or middle school students.

This is the first book in the Great Names series I've found that actually includes citations. It is great. I wish more of the series had done that.

One note of alert: there is one background drawing that shows a reclining naked woman from the back, and another illustration that shows a naked man from the front. Both of these could be covered with stickers or post-its if desired.