Book Review of Mona Lisa in New York
The Children’s Book Review
Mona Lisa in New York
Written and Illustrated Yevgenia Nayberg
Ages 4+ | 32 Pages
Publisher: Prestel Junior | ISBN: 9783791374451
What to expect: Art, Adventure, Beauty
Mona Lisa in New York, by Yevgenia Nayberg, is a lovely and vibrant take on the art book for children genre. In this beautifully illustrated book, we meet Mona Lisa as she is journeying to a visiting exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Having left her “palace called the Louvre,” Mona Lisa encounters the same admiration in New York City that she has always experienced back home in Paris:
“Once in New York, Mona Lisa went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. All traffic came to a standstill. New Yorkers lined up on the streets to see her. Inside the museum, they sighed, they cried, they admired her beauty. It was business as usual.”
But Mona Lisa has an adventurous spirit and decides to take a walk on her last night in the city. Like any good tourist, she gets lost. Luckily, she meets up with another artwork named Tag, a work of graffiti art from Brooklyn, who decides to show her around the city:
“Tag took her hand and off they went.”
In Harlem, they listen to jazz. They have pizza in the Bronx, dance salsa on the Highline, swim at Brighton Beach, and even though they eventually have to say goodbye, Mona Lisa assures Tag that although her home is in Paris, her “heart is in New York City.”
Mona Lisa in New York is a beautifully written and illustrated book that literally brings art—and New York City—to life in children’s hands!
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About the Author
Yevgenia Nayberg is an award-winning children’s book author, illustrator, painter, and set and costume designer. Her illustrations have appeared in magazines and picture books and on theatre posters, music albums, and book covers; her paintings, drawings, and illustrations are held in private collections worldwide.
As a set and costume designer, she has received numerous awards, including the National Endowment for the Arts/TCG Fellowship for Theatre Designers, the Independent Theatre Award, and the Arlin Meyer Award. She’s a recipient of three Sydney Taylor Medals for her picturebook illustrations. She’s the author/illustrator of ANYA’S SECRET SOCIETY, TYPEWRITER, and MONA LISA IN NEW YORK. Her latest picture book, I HATE BORSCH!, a witty take on the complicated experience of rejecting and embracing one’s culture, is coming out in April 2022.
Originally from Kiev, Ukraine, Yevgenia now lives and draws from her studio in New York City. Visit her at www.nayberg.org.
Trevor Laurence Jockims reviewed Mona Lisa in New York. Discover more books like Mona Lisa in New York by reading our reviews and articles tagged with Adventure, Art, Books Set in New York, and Picture Book.