Grey, Christopher: Leonardo's Shadow

Simon Pulse © 2006, 391 pages

Giacomo has been a servant in the house of Leonardo da Vinci for some eight years, since the great artist saved the boy's life after he fell from a cathedral roof. Giacomo doesn't remember his life before the fall, and as the years in Leonardo's service pass, despite his affection for and loyalty to his master, he becomes increasingly interested in finding his parents. While he's concerned with this personal drama, Giacomo also tries to keep creditors off Leonardo's back. Da Vinci, long planning his great painting, The Last Supper, is under pressure from the Duke of Milan to finish the work, and under pressure from scores of local businessmen who have long been extending credit.

Giacomo tells the story of Leonardo's painting and his own roll in its creation in the first person. The prose can feel a bit stilted until you get used to it, and the book sometimes reads like a history lesson. But after a slow start I found Leonardo's Shadow very pleasant reading. Giacomo is a likable character, under-appreciated by his master in particular, and that makes us root for him. (It also probably makes him someone your average teen will identify with.) For the book's intended audience of YA readers, Leonardo's Shadow is an enjoyable way to digest information about Leonardo, The Last Supper, and the 15th century.