MONA LISA’S GHOST, a thrilling mystery, is the sequel to The Crystal Navigator. It is the second book in the Lucy Nightingale adventure series. During a class video about the Mona Lisa, Lucy and her best friend, Sam Winter notice that the painting seems to be melting. Sam thinks it has been attacked by a molecule-destroying syndrome called Zoom Seizure. On winter vacation, Lucy and her parents go to Paris where she can investigate. In the Mona Lisa Gallery of the Louvre Museum, Lucy bumps into Melissa Blackwood, a classmate from home. Melissa shocks Lucy telling her that she is the reincarnation of Mona Lisa and that she has come back to steal the painting. That night, the painting is mysteriously stolen and Lucy must find it before Zoom Seizure destroys it. In an adventure that takes Lucy through the ghost-infested Catacombs of Paris, down underground rivers, and back to sixteenth-century France, she solves a mystery that would shock the world if it were ever made public. This coming-of-age series is sure to entertain and inspire young readers as Lucy learns to trust her intuition, see herself, others, and the world around her with greater clarity, and to believe in the magic that lies inside every one of us.
Kirkus Reviews
Mona Lisa’s Ghost
Written by Nancy Kunhardt Lodge
Age Range: Ages 10 and up
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Wilwahren Press (2017)
ISBN: 978-0-996088541
What to expect: Science fiction, mystery, fantasy, magic, Renaissance art
In Mona Lisa’s Ghost, author Nancy Kunhardt Lodge delights readers with a second installment in the zany adventures of Lucy Nightingale. On an ordinary school day in art class, Lucy is shocked to see that the Mona Lisa is undergoing changes at the molecular level—the background appears to be in motion and a terrible storm seems to be wreaking havoc on the scenery. Except for Lucy’s trusted friend Sam, no one else seems to notice that something is wrong. But Lucy and Sam can see the painting is in distress and that Mona Lisa herself is not happy.
Lucy decides to travel to Paris to the Mona Lisa Gallery at the Louvre to see the portrait and try to understand what is happening to it. Lucy wants to stop it from being destroyed. When she arrives at the Louvre, she realizes Melissa, one of her classmates, is also there. Melissa eventually tells Lucy that she is the reincarnation of Lisa Gherardini, the famous subject of the Mona Lisa, and that she has returned to claim the portrait that Leonardo da Vinci made for her. After a series of dramatic twists and turns, Lucy realizes that things may have gone too far. She calls Sam for help and tells him:
“Melissa just called me. She says she’s in a secret closet in the Louvre with the Mona Lisa in her lap!”
From here, the mystery unravels quickly and Lucy is forced to trust her intuition as she learns more about the history of the Mona Lisa and Leonardo da Vinci. This page-turning mystery is filled with science fiction references, time travel, high-tech gadgets and historical references. It is sure to appeal to readers with many varied interests and will reel them in with its fast pace and highly relatable characters. Mona Lisa’s Ghost will surely spark readers’ imaginations and their thirst for the science fiction and mystery genres.
Nancy Kunhardt Lodge has a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in Renaissance art history. She taught at Tufts, Boston, and American Universities. She has written scholarly articles and delivered papers at Renaissance conferences in Italy and the U.S., among them the Frick Collection of Art, the Corcoran Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian Resident Associates Program. She is a member of SCBWI and the College Art Association. She has released two books in a series about Lucy Nightingale’s dare devil adventures. Dr. Lodge is the granddaughter of Dorothy Kunhardt, author of the children’s classic, Pat the Bunny. She lives in the West Newbury, MA. area with her husband and two Corgis, Wilbur and Charlotte.
Reviews allow authors and illustrators to gain prompt visibility for their work. Nancy Kunhardt Lodge sponsored this non-biased review of “Mona Lisa’s Ghost
