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If you’re a fan of historical fiction, then Donna Jo Napoli‘s YA novel The Smile is for you.  It tells the story of fifteen-year-old Elisabetta, the girl later immortalized as Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.  Monna Elisabetta hopes to marry for love, but knows she’s destined for an arranged marriage.  As members of the lesser nobility in Florence, Elisabetta’s family needs her to marry well and she is bound by the limited role prescribed to her.  But Elisabetta, unconventional and strong, meets a boy she can love, Guiliano de’ Medici.     Against all odds and due to the introduction by her father’s famous friend, Leonardo da Vinci, Elisabetta meets the Medici family, the most powerful and wealthy family in Florence. She and the youngest son, Giuliano meet and fall in love. But can their love survive the violent political upheavals of the Renaissance and the overthrow of the Medici rule?  In Napoli’s hands, the mysterious Mona Lisa smile is created from love, loss, poignancy and passion.  

Prolific author for both children and adults, Ridley Pearson has written another edge-of-your-seat, action/adventure book in his Kingdom Keepers series. Book V of the series, The Shell Game, takes the five Kingdom Keepers–Finn, Maybeck, Charlene, Willa, and Philby–on a Disney cruise infiltrated by Disney villains.  Disney World is under seige and it’s up to the Kingdom Keepers to save the day. I’m not quite finished reading the book, but true to form, Ridley Pearson takes you on a roller coaster ride of a story full of suspense and action.  If you like the Alex Rider series, then Kingdom Keepers is for you! And if you need another plug for Ridley Pearson, I’ve heard him speak several times at book signings and author events, and he always impresses with his “never give up, you can do it” advice to writers.  Sometimes authors at book signings are too tired and grumpy to even smile (even children’s authors), but not Ridley.  He and Dave Barry even took the time to sign my son’s cast.  Fantastic.