Stanley, Diane Books

Leonardo da Vinci

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Leonard Da Vinci, the quintessential Renaissance Man 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

The cover of this excellent juvenile biography of Leonardo Da Vinci is quite interesting because it shows him as a young man in front of the background from his most famous painting, the "Mona Lisa." I saw a story once that compared the face of the "Mona Lisa" with the famous red ink drawing of Da Vinci as an old man, which did size comparisons and argued they were the same. In other words, the "Mona Lisa" is really a self-portrait of Da Vinci. This makes a bit of sense since the artist worked on it for years, obviously with the benefit of a model. Diane Stanley's cover painting, intentionally or not, references this intriguing hypothesis.

Stanley does some fascinating things with the art throughout this book. She puts reproductions of Da Vinci's actual paintings into her own works and includes various drawings by Da Vinci to complement her text. Young readers will learn about the highlights of Da Vinci's life, both as an artist and as an inventor. Consequently, they will see not only the painting of "The Last Supper" but the flying machine he designed. In a fascinating postscript Stanley details what happened to the grave of Da Vinci and what few of his paintings remain. Stanley provides an excellent introduction to the life of the original Renaissance Man.

Editorial Review:

Older children will certainly appreciate the wealth of information in this complete and fascinating biography of Leonardo da Vinci. Illustrated in an Old Masters style, the book follows the life of da Vinci from birth to death and gives a detailed account of his extraordinary achievements, not only in his painting but also as an engineer, scientist, and inventor who is centuries ahead of his time. The treatment of da Vinci's famous notebooks usefully conveys the power of the man's imagination. His practice of writing in a backward script from right to left, requiring a mirror to decipher it, will intrigue children. (The dust jacket bears such lettering on the back, which should immediately prompt a run to the bathroom mirror.) An accomplished and engaging biography for children.

Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare

Peter Vennema

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

William Shakespeare was the son of a glovemaker, a small-town boy with a grammar school education. Yet he grew up to become the greatest English-speaking playwright in the world. Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare is both his story and that of a great art rediscovered in the modern world.

Drama had been forgotten since the days of ancient Greece, but it reemerged in Elizabethan London with the building of the first modern theater. Its impact can still be imagined today. There were the theaters, open to the weather and featuring neither sets nor curtains, but equipped with dramatic special effects. There were the companies of actors--the leading men, the comedians, the boys who played women's roles--and the playwrights who gave them all lines to say.

Best of all, there was William Shakespeare, who rubbed shoulders with noblemen and royalty as well as with the rowdy crowds at the foot of the stage. He was suspected of involvement in a treasonous rebellion, and his last play literally brought down the house when cannon effects set fire to the famous Globe theater and it burned to the ground.

Award-winning collaborators Diane Stanley and Peter Vennema have once again created a feast of words and pictures to celebrate the life of a remarkable person from the pages of history: William Shakespeare, a man for all time."

Joan of Arc

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Diane Stanley does it again! 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 8 people found this review helpful.

A beautiful book! Diane Stanley carefully traces the life of Joan from her humble beginnings to her tragic end. The book even comes with a pronunciation guide to help those of us who haven't been to France. Although the language is at 8+ year old range, my 5 year old daughter loves it anyway!

Not just a book for kids.... 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Once again, Diane Stanley has brought intriguing facts and interesting tidbits to a book about a well known character, Joan of Arc, which makes the reader interested and excited about the subject, no matter what age he or she might be. Joan was born an illiterate, peasant daughter of a leader in a French village during the time of the Hundred Years War between France and England. She was highly disciplined in Catholicism, and was often teased about it by her friends. At the age of thirteen, Joan began having visions, while in the family garden, of various Catholic Saints giving her distressing messages and that she needed to act in order to save the French Kingdom. Joan was so convinced and moved by these visions that she took on a life long task of saving the French kingdom, although a woman doing this would have been unheard of at the time. She was eventually captured by the Burgundies that occupied Northern France and handed over to the English for a ransom. She was put on trial by the church for dressing in men's clothing and for acting on her voices and visitations which should have only been heard by members of the clergy. She was found guilty, although she gave clever testimony and was not easily disrupted by tricky questioning, and eventually burned at the stake. Charles, the ruler that Joan help restore to the crown, made it his personal mission to have Joan's trial declared a mistrial sixteen years after her death. This act fueled by his guilt for not negotiating for her release from prison helped her to be declared a saint five hundred years later.
This book helps the reader realize that although Joan my have appeared unstable with her visions in modern times, she brought hope and life to a battle that was hopeless leaving many French residents in despair. A note at the end of the book indicates that there have been three theories behind Joan's visions, depending on where one's personal beliefs lie.
Included within the book are pronunciations of French names and places and a map, so the reader can follow the path taken by Joan. This book provides interesting and understandable information for readers of all ages, including adults that want a short but informative look into Joan of Arc's life.

Editorial Review:

Against the fascinating tapestry of Frances history during the Hundred Years' War, Diane Stanley unfolds the story of the simple thirteen-year-old village girl who in Just a few years would lead France to independence from English rule, and thus become a symbol of France's national pride. It is a story ofvision and bravery, fierce determination, and tragic martyrdom. Diane Stanley's extraordinary gift to present historical information in an accessible and child-friendly format has never been more impressive, nor her skillful, beautifully realized illustrations (here imitating medieval illuminated manuscripts) more exquisite.

Michelangelo

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Michelangelo Buonarroti, one of the greatest artists of all time, was not exactly a noble and humble man. Irritable, arrogant, and impatient, his perfectionism and expectations drove away many potential friends, and even provoked one would-be friend to hit him in the nose, crushing it "like a biscuit." However, what's truly important for us today is that this man ultimately became an artistic genius, mastering the three arts of the Renaissance: sculpture, painting, and architecture. From his early years, when he created the Pieta (at age 25), to his 40 years of tormented work on a monumental tomb for Pope Julius II, to his greatest masterpiece, the paintings in the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo astounded people with his almost otherworldly talent.

Diane Stanley's well-researched, vivid narrative captures the life of the creator of some of the world's most beautiful, heart-wrenching works of art. Her illustrations are fantastically elaborate and include details of many of Michelangelo's sculptures and paintings. Michelangelo is a perfect introduction to art and art history, with plenty of compelling background information about the Renaissance and life in 15th and 16th century Italy. Stanley has written many other award-winning picture-book biographies, including Leonardo da Vinci and Cleopatra. (Ages 9 to 12) --Emilie Coulter

Cleopatra

Peter Vennema

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

brilliantly illustrated history 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Diane's Stanley's illustrations are masterful, incredibly detailed, and wonderfully expressive; every page (except for the two useful maps) is covered with either spreads that have been delicately painted to look like tile work, as can be seen on the marvelous cover, or has large and intricate paintings, with so much in its compositions that one can look at them repeatedly and find new things to admire.
Stanley's technique is superb, and her medium is gouache.

The history is fascinating and clearly written, and describes the times that Cleopatra lived in as well as what is known about her, which as Staley and Vennema point out, "Everything we know about Cleopatra was written by her enemies", and also, though we know what Julius Caesar, Mark Anthony and Octavian looked like, all we have of Cleopatra's image are crudely carved coins, as her statues were destroyed.
Though only 48 pages in length, each page has either information worth reading and learning (by both children and adults), or is graced by Stanley's beautiful work, making it weighty in content; as an artist and illustrator, I tip my hat to her creativity and skill.

Editorial Review:

Queen of Egypt at the age of eighteen, Cleopatra's passion was to untie the world under Egyptian rule. Legendary leaders risked their kingdoms to win her heart, and her epic life has inspired countless tales throughout history. A timeless story of love, war, and ambition, their pictorial biography is sure to entertain and educate.

Good Queen Bess : The Story of Elizabeth I of England

Diane Stanley, Peter Vennema

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

She was a queen whose strong will, shrewd diplomacy, religious toleranceand great love for her subjects won the hearts of her people and the admiration of her enemies.

Elizabeth was born into an age of religious strife, in which plots and factions were everywhere and private beliefs could be punished by death. When she became queen, her counselors urged her to marry quickly and turn the responsibilities of governing over to her husband, But she outwitted them by stalling, changing her mind; and playing one side against another, as she steered her country to the glorious era of peace and security that would be called the Elizabethan Age.

Elizabeth's forceful personality, colorful court, and devoted subjects come vividly to life in this stellar picture-book biography. When it was first published, Good Queen Bess was named a Notable Book in the Field of Social Studies, an American Library Association Notable Book, a Booklist Editors' Choice, an American Bookseller Pick of the Lists, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book, and an IRA Teachers' Choice.

In this welcome reissue, celebrated author and illustrator Diane Stanley and her husband, Peter Vennema, paint an impressive portrait of the remarkable queen who loved her people so dearly and ruled them so well.

Sleeping Ugly

Jane Yolen

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Sleeping Ugly 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Sleeping Ugly
by Jane Yolen
reviewed by Meghan - Stockbridge Central School 3rd Grade


Are you tired of the same old fairy tales told over and over again? Here is one with a new twist... Sleeping ugly is about a really pretty princess on the outside but on the inside she is the meanest wickedest princes. Plain Jane is Ugly on the outside and really nice on the inside. I like this book because it has adventure and excitement. It is funny because Plain Jane is ugly and nice and Princes Miserella is pretty and mean. I recommend this book to first to third grade.

A model story 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

A well told story, and and a good model for my students' essay writing. It has organization, allusion, "show me" character, smooth seamless transitions between scenes, and a bonus character lesson suitable for both boys & girls. For a longer "chapter book" with the same theme, see M.M. Kaye's The Ordinary Princess.

Editorial Review:

When beautiful Princess Miserella, Plain Jane, and a fairy fall under a sleeping spell, a prince undoes the spell in a surprising way.

Bella at Midnight

Diane Stanley

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Sweet Story 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

A clean fairytale inspired book with heros driven by their faith and integrity. A great read for girls, middle school to 99, maybe younger for advanced readers.

Mix and Match the Fairytales 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I thought that this was an excellant book! It was sort of like a mix of several stories, put together in a unique way. I especially like the part when the "Worthy Knight" (or was it the knight?) came riding out onto the battlefield and...

Creative fairy tale retelling with a butt-kicking heroine 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

A reimagining of Cinderella that departs from the original in some interesting ways.

When Bella is born, her mother dies. Her father, a cruel and unpleasant knight, can't bear to look at Bella and sends her to a wet nurse. He abandons her there for many years, until he remarries.

Bella is raised by peasants to be good and hardworking and her closest childhood friend is Prince Julian, who is fostered with the same wet nurse.

When Bella is finally summoned to her father's house, she finds out that the loving family who raised her are not related to her. Her new stepmother doesn't want her around and her father has not mellowed over the years.

When Bella finds out that the life of Prince Julian is in danger, she sets out to save him, and to avert a war if she can. I loved Bella because she doesn't sit around waiting to be rescued--she rescues herself and many others along the way.

Hooray for girl power!

Editorial Review:

Bella has grown up thinking that she was just a simple peasant girl. But suddenly, Bella's world collapses. First, her best friend, Julian, betrays her. Then she finds out that she is, in fact, Isabel, the daughter of a knight who abandoned her in infancy. And now he wants her back. Bella is torn from her beloved foster family and tries to accept her new life with her deranged father and his resentful wife. But when she finds out about a terrible plot that threatens the kingdom, she sets out on a journey that will lead her to a destiny far greater than she could have imagined.

Peter the Great

Diane Stanley

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Peter the Great, crowned tsar of Russia at the age of ten, believed that whatever he wanted he should have -- and the sooner the better. What he wanted most was to bring his beloved country into the modem world. He traveled to the West to learn European ways -- the first tsar ever to leave Russia -- disguised as a common soldier.

He explored the West with excitement and curiosity and returned home ready to undertake a series of momentous social reforms. And to satisfy his boyhood dream of a Russian naval port, he began to build, on a freezing swamp, a glittering new capital to be named St. Petersburg.

In this welcome reissue of Diane Stanley's acclaimed picturebook biography, her meticulously researched text and sumptuous illustrations capture the fabulous world of seventeenth -- and eighteenth-century tsarist Russia and the greatness of its larger-than-life leader -- a man of huge stature and tremendous spirit whose impatience and vision, insatiable curiosity and boundless energy transformed half a continent.

Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The children's classic "Rumpelstiltskin" undergoes an attitude update in Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter by Diane Stanley. Yes, the king imprisons the miller's daughter Meredith and threatens death if she doesn't spin mountains of gold, but this time it's a kind and cute, not a troll-like and evil Rumpelstiltskin who rescues Meredith from the king's wrath. Rumpelstilskin's heartfelt request for Meredith's first child as payment for the spun gold is accompanied by promises that he will read to the child and even coach Little League! Meredith cannot resist such promises, and the two escape from the palace, marry the next day, and settle on a farm far from the king. The story picks up some 16 years later. Meredith and Rumpelstiltskin have a "sunny and clever" daughter named Hope who delights in traveling to town to sell the golden coins spun by her father. On one such trip the greedy king crosses Hope's path and, after spying the gold coins, sets her to spinning gold in a cold palace cell. Hope cooks up a plan that results in prosperity for the people of the kingdom and her appointment as prime minister. Diane Stanley's irresistable prose and detailed illustrations make Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter a golden yarn that's sure to be spun over and over. (Age 5 and older)