Lady with an Alien: An Encounter with Leonardo Da Vinci (Art Encounters)

The imagination of looking at this famous Leonardo Da Vinci painting and questioning how out of place an ermine would be as an artistic prop is delightful. The premise of a young teenage boy time traveling to 1490 a.d. in order to observe the master at work. However when the boy's pet alien gets left back in time and Da Vinci finds the pet the questions begin. I greatly appreciated the perspective of both the main characters and the many quandary of what to share and what to keep secret from the past and from the future. A very enjoyable day read.

What happens when a science fiction writer looks at Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting 'Lady with an Ermine' and gets the idea that this isn't an ermine at all? Perhaps instead it's an alien creature. Perhaps a person from the future bored with life there decides to go back to visit with Leonardo and takes his pet from the future with him. A little improbable, but most fiction is. And the writing of life in the Italy of Leonardo's time shows that he conducted a great deal of research on life at that time. And as the author says, 'it was fun to visit with Leonardo while I was writing this.'