Mona Lisa: The Secret of the Smile

Galli's pictorially imaginative biography of da Vinci, while visually appealing, produces a somewhat distant Leonardo, especially when compared to the vibrant young Michelangelo of Laura Fischetto's Michael the Angel, which Galli illustrated. Highly theatrical, her stylized, disjointed figures and skewed, multi-perspective architectural settings invoke a kind of controlled anarchy; outsized heads popping out of roofless buildings and freefloating geometric shapes add a touch of surrealism, while a subtle marbling of the colors keeps the ambience firmly antique. The artist himself appears as the calm center of this kaleidoscopic world, following his intellectual and artistic interests with supreme confidence and focus, and leaving unfinished projects behind without regret. Recurring visual elements-Mona Lisa's face glimpsed in the crowd, disembodied horse's heads-provide a continuity missing from the text, which oscillates between fleshed-out narrative and poetic musing. Details of the artist's life are included in an afterword, but, despite the subtitle, the mystery of the Mona Lisa's smile remains unsolved. Ages 5-8. (Mar.)