Sometimes I want to reach for my soapbox immediately after I finish a book with the message that readers are missing wonderful things when they pay attention to age recommendations for the book. The one I just finished fits in that category. The Mona Lisa Vanishes by Nicholas Day is listed for 10 to 14-year-olds. The bottom number is not that bad, although I would have devoured it before I was ten. I think this generation has some nerds-to-be like me who will, too. The “to 14” needs to be eliminated altogether and replaced with “and up.”
The core of this nonfiction book centers on the real theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre. Day makes the point that before August 21, 1911, it was possible to see the Mona Lisa without knowing what the Mona Lisa looked like. Afterward, it was not. Oddly enough, the theft of the painting brought fame that the painting had not enjoyed before.
Day’s account serves all kinds of interests. History buffs will love the story of the unlikely making and preservation of the painting. Artists will appreciate the painting process. Mystery buffs will enjoy the sleuthing and being able to guess how it was stolen and where it was hidden. Anybody with a sense of humor will have a great time all the way through. People like me who saw the Mona Lisa in the Louvre and wondered how the relatively small painting got all the hoopla will finally have their question answered.
The clever illustrations of Brett Helquist add richness by carrying both the humor and the historical facts of Nicholas Day’s true tale. I am predicting awards from the American Library Association. I am also predicting that anybody over the age of ten (and quite a few who are younger) will love this book.