📖 Michelangelo by Diane Stanley. In typical fashion, Stanley has written an engaging picture book biography that teaches as much about the Italian Renaissance as it does about its subject. In Michelangelo, we are introduced to Lorenzo de'Medici, Leonardo da Vinci, Ghirlandaio, Savonarola, Popes Julius and Leo X, and other prominent figures of the Italian Renaissance. Highly recommended. – Elementary • Middle

📖 Stone Giant: Michelangelo’s David and How He Came to Be by Jane Sutcliff. Here’s an engaging picture book account of Michelangelo and the creation of his famous statue, David. The book gives a nice feel for Renaissance Florence, and the Author’s Note gives more information on the history of the famous sculpture. – Elementary

🔗 Content Connection: Early Modern Europe. Learn about life in Renaissance Europe.

📖 Pippo the Fool by Tracey E. Fern. This entertaining picture book introduces Filippo Brunelleschi, the architect famed for designing and building the Duomo—a magnificent dome that sits atop the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. Young readers will enjoy the irreverent text as well as the comical pictorial depictions of 15th century Florence. – Elementary

📖 Leonardo da Vinci by Diane Stanley. In Leonardo da Vinci, Stanley provides a fascinating account of the life and times of the great artist. Along the way, we meet some of da Vinci's well-known contemporaries, including Duke Ludovico Sforza, Cesare Borgia, and Niccolò Machiavelli. Another highly recommended biography from Diane Stanley. – Elementary • Middle

📖 Leonardo: Beautiful Dreamer by Robert Byrd. "Robert Byrd celebrates this passionate, playful genius in a glowing picture book replete with the richness and imagination of Leonardo's own notebooks. Twenty lavish spreads, including side drawings, supplemental texts, and quotes from Leonardo's writings, highlight distinct periods and make the master's art, jokes, explorations, and inventions wonderfully vivid and accessible." Although Stanley's biography provides a more straightforward account of Leonardo's life, students with a particular interest in his inventions and scientific contributions will surely enjoy this book. – Elementary • Middle

📖 Leonardo da Vinci by Steven Augarde. Learn about the life of an artist in Renaissance Italy through a series of fictional journal entries by Paolo, an apprentice in Leonardo's workshop. The book also tells the story of Leonardo's life and his impact on the Italian Renaissance. – Elementary • Middle

📖 The Second Mrs. Giaconda by E.L. Konigsburg. Here’s a nice literature link to include in a study of Leonardo da Vinci: “Why did Leonardo da Vinci lavish three years on a painting of the second wife of an unimportant merchant when all the nobles of Europe were begging for a portrait by his hand? No one knows for sure. But this story of Leonardo, his wayward apprentice Salai, and the Duke of Milan's plain young wife, Beatrice d'Este, may hold the clue to the most famous—and puzzling—painting of all time.” – Middle

📖 The Apprentice by Pilar Molina Llorente. “In Renaissance Florence, thirteen-year-old apprentice Arduino's dreams of being a painter are challenged after he discovers the extreme measures the Maestro Cosimo di Forlç will take in the name of jealousy. Arduino faces a decision that could cost him his only chance to realize his life's dream.” – Elementary