Leonardo and the Flying Boy

By Author / Illustrator

Laurence Anholt

Genre

Adventure

Publisher

Frances Lincoln Publishers Ltd

ISBN

9781847808165

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

07-04-2016

Synopsis

Part of the highly-successful Anholt's Artists series about great painters, which tells the stories of real meetings between world-famous artists and the children who knew them. Zoro is the young pupil of the amazing painter, sculptor, scientist and inventor, Leonardo da Vinci. Every day he works hard in Leonardo's workshop, mixing colours, cleaning paintbrushes and practising his drawings. But he is never allowed inside the secret locked room, where Leonardo spends hours hammering and sawing at a mysterious invention. One day Leonardo brings a mischievous boy named Salai to work for him. He is so intrigued by the secret room that he steals the keys to find out what is inside... Leonardo and the Flying Boy provides an exciting introduction to the great genius of the Italian Renaissance, with reproductions of Leonardo's own work.

Reviews

I generally really enjoy Anholt's books about famous artists; they break down the ideas and artworks to make them more accessible to children. This book certainly does that, sharing Da Vinci's ideals, passions and works through two boys who are his 'pupils'. I feel that this story isn't as accessible for younger children as some of the others in the series but that is probably down to the sophisticated nature of Da Vinci's thoughts. I enjoyed this book, but not as much as others in the series - possibly as I'm not as enraptured by Da Vinci's art as I am some of the other artists that Anholt has written about. If you have a child who has expressed an interest in Da Vinci, this book is a great introduction. This book has many of Da Vinci's sketches and centres around his idea of humans flying. The book ends with a biographical page that details Da Vinci's life in further detail. Picture book / Ages 7+ / Reviewed by Lizi Coombs, teacher.