
The Mona Lisa Vanishes
A Legendary Painter, a Shocking Heist, and the Birth of a Global Celebrity
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Narrated by:
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Carlotta Brentan
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By:
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Nicholas Day
About this listen
On a hot August day in Paris, just over a century ago, a desperate guard burst into the office of the director of the Louvre and shouted, La Joconde, c’est partie! The Mona Lisa, she’s gone!
No one knew who was behind the heist. Was it an international gang of thieves? Was it an art-hungry American millionaire? Was it the young Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, who was about to remake the very art of painting?
Travel back to an extraordinary period of revolutionary change: turn-of-the-century Paris. Walk its backstreets. Meet the infamous thieves—and detectives—of the era. And then slip back further in time and follow Leonardo da Vinci, painter of the Mona Lisa, through his dazzling, wondrously weird life. Discover the secret at the heart of the Mona Lisa—the most famous painting in the world should never have existed at all.
Here is a middle-grade nonfiction written at the pace of a thriller, shot through with stories of crime and celebrity, genius and beauty.©2023 Nicholas Day (P)2023 Listening Library
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Critic reviews
Georgia Children's Book Award: Nominated
2024, Robert F. Sibert Medal: Winner
“The tale of a stunning art heist told with a contagious love of stranger-than-fiction true stories!” —Steve Sheinkin, Newbery Honor–winning author of Bomb
★ "A wildly entertaining, thoroughly contextualized look at art, history, and fame." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“[A] witty thriller." —The New York Times
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Story
Nothing’s gone right for Lawrence since he had to move from Charlotte to Larenville, North Carolina, to live with his granny. When Lawrence ends up in one too many fights at his new school, he gets expelled. The fight wasn’t his fault, but since his pop’s been gone, it feels like no one listens to what Lawrence has to say. Instead of going to school, Lawrence starts spending his days at the rec center, helping out a neighbor who runs a chess program. Some of the kids in the program will be picked to compete in the Charlotte Classic chess tournament. Could this be Lawrence's chance to go home?
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Excellent
- By Erica Pereira on 12-12-24
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The First Rule of Punk
- By: Celia C. Pérez
- Narrated by: Victoria Villarreal
- Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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There are no shortcuts to surviving your first day at a new school—you can’t fix it with duct tape like you would your Chuck Taylors. On Day One, twelve-year-old Malú (María Luisa, if you want to annoy her) inadvertently upsets Posada Middle School’s queen bee, violates the school’s dress code with her punk rock look, and disappoints her college-professor mom in the process. Her dad, who now lives a thousand miles away, says things will get better as long as she remembers the first rule of punk: be yourself.
By: Celia C. Pérez
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The Bletchley Riddle
- By: Ruta Sepetys, Steve Sheinkin
- Narrated by: Louis Hill, Georgina Jane, Ruta Sepetys, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Summer, 1940. Nineteen-year-old Jakob Novis and his quirky younger sister Lizzie share a love of riddles and puzzles. And now they’re living inside of one. The quarrelsome siblings find themselves amidst one of the greatest secrets of World War II—Britain’s eccentric codebreaking factory at Bletchley Park. As Jakob joins Bletchley’s top minds to crack the Nazi's Enigma cipher, fourteen-year-old Lizzie embarks on a mission to solve the mysterious disappearance of their mother.
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A war novel that champions the contributions of intellectuals and respects the children's experiences
- By Carolyn M Robinson on 03-15-25
By: Ruta Sepetys, and others
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House Arrest
- By: K.A. Holt
- Narrated by: Alex Kydd
- Length: 4 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Timothy is on probation. It's a strange word - something that happens to other kids, to delinquents, not to kids like him. And yet, he is under house arrest for the next year. He must check in weekly with a probation officer and a therapist and keep a journal for an entire year. And mostly, he has to stay out of trouble. But when he must take drastic measures to help his struggling family, staying out of trouble proves more difficult than Timothy ever thought it would be.
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Better off reading yourself
- By Patricia Rosenberg on 02-14-23
By: K.A. Holt
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The Lost Year
- A Survival Story of the Ukrainian Famine
- By: Katherine Marsh
- Narrated by: Anna Fikhman, Christopher Gebauer, Jesse Vilinsky, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Thirteen-year-old Matthew is miserable. His journalist dad is stuck overseas indefinitely, and his mom has moved in his one-hundred-year-old great-grandmother to ride out the pandemic, adding to his stress and isolation. But when Matthew finds a tattered black-and-white photo in his great-grandmother’s belongings, he discovers a clue to a hidden chapter of her past, one that will lead to a life-shattering family secret.
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Excellent work
- By Megan Smith on 03-16-25
By: Katherine Marsh
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Healer of the Water Monster
- By: Brian Young
- Narrated by: Shaun Taylor-Corbett
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
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When Nathan goes to visit his grandma, Nali, at her mobile summer home on the Navajo reservation, he knows he’s in for a pretty uneventful summer, with no electricity or cell service. Still, he loves spending time with Nali and with his uncle Jet, though it’s clear when Jet arrives that he brings his problems with him. One night, while lost in the nearby desert, Nathan finds someone extraordinary: a Holy Being from the Navajo Creation Story - a Water Monster - in need of help.
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Love it
- By jaynell on 06-10-21
By: Brian Young
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Artifice
- By: Sharon Cameron
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Isa de Smit was raised in the vibrant, glittering world of her parents' small art gallery in Amsterdam, a hub of beauty, creativity, and expression, until the Nazi occupation wiped the color from her city's palette. The "degenerate" art of the Gallery de Smit is confiscated, the artists in hiding or deported, her best friend, Truus, fled to join the shadowy Dutch resistance. And masterpiece by masterpiece, the Nazis are buying and stealing her country's heritage. So when the unpaid taxes threaten her beloved but empty gallery, Isa decides to make the Nazis pay.
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Beauty painted and repainted.
- By kanga2012 on 01-31-24
By: Sharon Cameron
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A World Without Summer
- A Volcano Erupts, a Creature Awakens, and the Sun Goes Out
- By: Nicholas Day
- Length: 4 hrs
- Unabridged
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When Mount Tambora, a volcano on the edge of the Indonesian archipelago, erupted in April 1815, it was the largest explosion in recorded history. The land around Indonesia was a hellscape of fire and smoke. In the months and years that followed, the fallout—a cloud of impossibly fine ash—spread through the atmosphere. It killed harvests on the other side of the world. It turned farmers into beggars and their children into orphans. It turned sunsets into molten nightmares.
By: Nicholas Day
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Eagle Drums
- By: Nasugraq Rainey Hopson
- Narrated by: Irene Bedard
- Length: 4 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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As his family prepares for winter, a young, skilled hunter must travel up the mountain to collect obsidian for knapping—the same mountain where his two older brothers died. When he reaches the mountaintop, he is immediately confronted by a terrifying eagle god named Savik. Savik gives the boy a choice: follow me or die like your brothers. What comes next is a harrowing journey to the home of the eagle gods and unexpected lessons on the natural world, the past that shapes us, and the community that binds us.
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Fabulous
- By sluggworth on 11-19-23
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The Labors of Hercules Beal
- By: Gary D. Schmidt
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Herc Beal knows who he's named after—a mythical hero—but he's no superhero. He's the smallest kid in his class. So when his homeroom teacher at his new middle school gives him the assignment of duplicating the mythical Hercules's amazing feats in real life, he's skeptical. After all, there are no Nemean Lions on Cape Cod—and not a single Hydra in sight.
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So funny with lots of tender life lessons
- By Smith on 01-26-24
By: Gary D. Schmidt
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When Stars Are Scattered
- By: Victoria Jamieson, Omar Mohamed
- Narrated by: full cast, Dominic Hoffman, Christine Avila, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Omar and his younger brother, Hassan, have spent most of their lives in Dadaab, a refugee camp in Kenya. Life is hard there: never enough food, achingly dull, and without access to the medical care Omar knows his nonverbal brother needs. So when Omar has the opportunity to go to school, he knows it might be a chance to change their future...but it would also mean leaving his brother, the only family member he has left, every day.
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Informative . Very interesting !
- By vanessa nance on 04-01-22
By: Victoria Jamieson, and others
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To Night Owl from Dogfish
- By: Holly Goldberg Sloan, Meg Wolitzer
- Narrated by: Imani Parks, Cassandra Morris, full cast, and others
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Avery Bloom, who's bookish, intense, and afraid of many things, particularly deep water, lives in New York City. Bett Devlin, who's fearless, outgoing, and loves all animals as well as the ocean, lives in California. What they have in common is that they are both 12 years old and are both being raised by single, gay dads. When their dads fall in love, Bett and Avery are sent, against their will, to the same sleepaway camp. Their dads hope they will find common ground and become friends - and possibly, one day, even sisters.
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Charming and funny
- By D. Bailey on 02-17-19
By: Holly Goldberg Sloan, and others
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The Shape of Thunder
- By: Jasmine Warga
- Narrated by: Reena Dutt, Jennifer Jill Araya
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Cora hasn’t spoken to her best friend, Quinn, in a year. Despite living next door to each other, they exist in separate worlds of grief. Cora is still grappling with the death of her beloved sister in a school shooting, and Quinn is carrying the guilt of what her brother did. On the day of Cora’s 12th birthday, Quinn leaves a box on her doorstep with a note. She has decided that the only way to fix things is to go back in time to the moment before her brother changed all their lives forever - and stop him.
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Best for younger MG readers
- By Pink Amy on 01-04-24
By: Jasmine Warga
What listeners say about The Mona Lisa Vanishes
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Tina Love
- 03-07-24
A Mona Lisa Book Report
The writing was a simple telling of a good story. Once I got over the millennial sound of the reader, it was clear she was great.
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- Anonymous User
- 08-27-24
Amazing
I liked how the reader read it. The book was very interesting too! I was very impressed!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Marianne Love
- 10-28-24
Remarkable Research
The author meticulously and cleverly weaves the story of da Vinci and the disappearance of the Mona Lisa. He brought in so many details in the timeline that were absolutely remarkable. A fun read as an adult, and I am going to recommend this to every middle schooler!
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- Aditya Kaushik
- 04-02-25
the supense
I liked the suspense and it had some good sorry telling and I loved that a Hottie in bikini was reading
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- Ajay Thomas Joseph
- 12-21-23
Great listening to
Loved the story and the superb narration. I learned so much from this book. All in a day.
I recommend this book highly.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Latrice Pearl
- 03-29-24
Too Long
There is too much information for a middle grade book. I enjoyed reading it as an adult. it was very I formative.
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- Sarah
- 07-08-24
I love this book!!
I loved the story! Nicholas Day is a brilliant author who made the story seem as if it was playing out in front of you. I will be recommending this to everyone from now on!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Katrina
- 11-26-23
Fascinating true thriller!
So good! It’s such a bonkers story and so well done. I wasn’t sure how it’d be on audio, but the narrator was fantastic.
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3 people found this helpful
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- David
- 04-05-24
Wow! So much fun and I learned a lot, too
I really enjoyed listening to this book! I thought I knew about the Mona Lisa, but I had no idea. I liked how the author interwove the story of the creation and the theft of the painting, and made it such a lighthearted read. Truly wonderful!
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1 person found this helpful