The Second Mrs. Gioconda - by E L Konigsburg (Paperback)

About the Book

"The riddle of the "Mona Lisa" is solved in a most ingenious reconstruction of the middle years of Leonardo Da Vinci's life. . . . Thoroughly entertaining and believable".--"School Library Journal".

Book Synopsis

Now with a brand-new look!

Leonardo da Vinci's irreverent young apprentice delights in mischief and defying the aristocracy in this historical fiction middle grade novel from E.L. Konigsburg, the Newbery Medal-winning author of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

The mystery of the "Mona Lisa!"

Why did Leonardo da Vinci, the greatest artist of his time, devote three years on a painting of the second wife of an unimportant merchant when all the nobles of Europe were begging for a portrait by him? And why did he put up with an apprentice who was a liar and a thief?

No one knows for sure. But this story of Leonardo, his wayward apprentice Salai, and the Duke of Milan's plain young wife, Beatrice d'Este, may hold the clue to the most famous--and puzzling--painting of all time.

About the Author

E.L. Konigsburg is the only author to have received the Newbery Medal and a Newbery Honor in the same year. In 1968, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler won the Newbery Medal and Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth was named a Newbery Honor Book. Almost thirty years later she won the Newbery Medal once again for The View from Saturday. Among her other acclaimed books are Silent to the Bone, The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place, and A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver.