Monday with a Mad Genius
By Mary Pope Osborne
Illustrated by Sal Murdocca
Random House, $4.99, 110 pages
Monday with a Mad Genius is the 38th installment in the Magic Tree House series. For this volume, siblings Jack and Annie are set to begin a new school year … and a new adventure aboard the magical tree house. Eager to perform the task given to them by Merlin the magician, Jack and Annie find themselves in Florence, Italy, 400 years back, looking for one of the greatest minds which lived in that time and area – Leonardo da Vinci. As the children spend the day with the “mad genius”, they get to hear his stories, see his works, touch his notebooks and tools, meet the people he interacted with, and experience his experiments along with him. At the end of the adventure, the kids come out with an understanding of Leonardo, not just as a painter or a scientist, but also as a person who thinks and behaves just like them.
Meant to be a reading material for young kids, this book is actually very engaging even for an older audience. The subject matter is interesting (who has not wanted to learn a thing or two about the artist behind the “Mona Lisa”?), and each chapter ends with an exciting hook that moves the reader to continue reading the next one. For parents and educators who plan to use the story to teach life lessons — sibling love, kindness to animals, patience, keeping one’s word — many opportunities can be found in this book. The related activities and information at the end of the volume also assures that the readers will be well occupied long after the last page has been turned.
Reviewed by: D. Harms
