A propulsive work of narrative nonfiction about how the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre, how the robbery made the portrait the most famous artwork in the world—and how the painting by Leonardo da Vinci should never have existed at all.
On a hot August day in Paris, just over a century ago, a desperate guard burst into the office of the director of the Louvre and shouted, La Joconde, c’est partie! The Mona Lisa, she’s gone!
No one knew who was behind the heist. Was it an international gang of thieves? Was it an art-hungry American millionaire? Was it the young Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, who was about to remake the very art of painting?
Travel back to an extraordinary period of revolutionary change: turn-of-the-century Paris. Walk its backstreets. Meet the infamous thieves—and detectives—of the era. And then slip back further in time and follow Leonardo da Vinci, painter of the Mona Lisa, through his dazzling, wondrously weird life. Discover the secret at the heart of the Mona Lisa—the most famous painting in the world should never have existed at all.
Here is middle-grade nonfiction, with black-and-white illustrations by Brett Helquist throughout, written at the pace of a thriller, shot through with stories of crime and celebrity, genius and beauty.
Winner of the Robert F. Sibert Medal from the American Library Association.
Winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Nonfiction Award
An Amazon Best Book of the Year • A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year • A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year • A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year • A Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Best Book of the Year • Booklist “Top of the list—Youth Nonfiction” 2023 • NPR "Books We Love" 2023 • New York Public Library Best Book of 2023 • Chicago Public Library Best Book of 2023 • The Week Junior “The Fifty Books Kids Love Most”
“One of the best books of 2023, bar none.” —Betsy Bird, School Library Journal Fuse #8 blog
★ "A wildly entertaining, thoroughly contextualized look at art, history, and fame." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
★ "A multistranded yarn skillfully laid out in broad, light brush strokes with some cogent themes mixed in." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
★ "A completely engaging book." —Booklist, starred review
“[A] witty thriller.” — The New York Times
“The tale of a stunning art heist told with a contagious love of stranger-than-fiction true stories!"— Steve Sheinkin, Newbery Honor award winning author of BOMB
“A thrilling, often hilarious, page-turning read. Kids will devour it. I know I did.” — Candace Fleming, Sibert Honor–winning author of THE FAMILY ROMANOV