Leonardo da Vinci (Giants of Science)

Great ,entertaining look into his life . Be warned however , the recommended age was 8 and up. I think it should say " young adults" there is information on his sexual orientation. This is not a big deal to me . But , depending on a child's age you might want to wait for them to read this .

Awesome 👏

My 12 year old son is reading this now and is enjoying it a great deal and learning history.

I was sorry that so little was given of his amazing artistry.

This is a funny, intelligent biography that has captured my child's attention. I am thoroughly enjoying it as well. It is true as a previous reviewer said that the book has many idioms and figures of speech, however because we are reading the book out loud, the language has been a good opportunity to discuss what those phrases or words mean. (My son is also autistic and struggles with figurative language, but he is also an advanced reader and the story of Leonardo is fascinating for him.)This book does contain brief and straight forward discussion of homophobia in the Middle Ages and uses words like "procreation" and "homosexual sex." (Leonardo was accused of being gay and arrested for it.) If you are not comfortable with your child reading those words, this is not the book for you. I personally found it a good way to put those words in context and teach my son about the history of prejudice and intolerance. That said, in general, I think this is a book that is best read with parents for younger children (ages 9-11 or so) since those words could be confusing for many children. The language would be appropriate for independent reading for young teens.Kathleen Krull is an engaging writer and has a real gift for making history accessible and entertaining while also educational. I plan to buy more of her books.

I'm actually pleased that my 9 year old, who has many gay extended family members, was able to learn something about the real history of persecution of homosexuality, and that this book gave him the opportunity to include a gay hero in his pantheon of heroic figures from history.In fact, he reference this book when he say another kid getting teased at school with a homophobic epithet. "DaVinci did more than anyone you will ever know and he was gay so shut up!"Teach your children well people.Thanks Scholastic.

Although well-written and interesting, parents should be warned about 2 aspects of this book so that they may wisely choose whether this book is appropriate for their child:1) It is full of "figures of speech" and somewhat poetic phraseology, which makes it difficult for young children, or children on the Autism Spectrum2) There is clear discussion about homosexuality and prostitutionFor both reasons, I would not have chosen this book for my son. He has Asperger's, and I would like to introduce matters of sex on my own terms.

My 8 year old read this for a school biography assignment. Told me he was confused about why Leonardo was thrown into prison. The book talks about how he was accused of having homosexual sex and how there was a special group which was formed to round up people accused of sex crimes. Thank you scholastic - I had been wondering how to broach the subject of homosexual sex with a boy who still covers his eyes when people kiss on TV. Don't buy this for your kids unless you want to have this special talk with them.

Research

Great book to read for anyone interested in history and amazing people. Short and to the point. Very entertaining