Jackie Kennedy loved the arts. And America loved Jackie Kennedy. The first lady knew she had the country's attention--what would she do with it? Encourage Americans to appreciate art, of course! She turned the White House into a historical site filled with some of America's most treasured artifacts and pieces of art. She brought Shakespearean theater to the White House and ballerinas to the South Lawn. And most epically, she brought the Mona Lisa to the states (much to the chagrin of many Parisians) to encourage Americans to visit museums--and it worked! An inspiring story about one of the nation's most influential first ladies.
In 1962, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy tirelessly campaigned to debut Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" in New York. And as only Jacqueline Kennedy could do, she infused America's first museum blockbuster show with a unique sense of pageantry, igniting a national love affair with the arts.
The Mona Lisa Caper is based on true events that began to unfold on Monday, August 21, 1911, when Vincenzo Perugia shocked the world by stealing the most famous of the many treasures in the Louvre. Though Vincenzo was a thief, he meant well. He simply wanted to return the painting to the Italian people in the mistaken belief that it had been stolen from them. Eventually, inevitably, Vincenzo was captured in Florence and put on trial. Italians gave him their hearts for his patriotism. In fact, he received so much food, wine, clothing, and furniture, that he had to be moved to a larger cell! Throughout Rick Jacobson’s lively text, Mona Lisa herself narrates the story of her trip back to the city of her creation. The playful art Rick has painted along with his wife, Laura Fernandez, heightens the fun. Not only is it Keystone-Cops funny, it is a sound introduction to the painting that continues to delight, amaze, and mystify hundreds of years after Leonardo da Vinci’s death.
Before she was an iconic First Lady of the United States, Jackie Kennedy was a born-and-raised New Yorker. She loved everything about her city, from the natural beauty of the parks to the architectural history of the buildings. So when the owners of Grand Central wanted to build a skyscraper on top of the famous train station, Jackie knew they had to be stopped. She helped inspire thousands of people to come together and fight to protect the historic landmark. From letter-writing campaigns all the way to the Supreme Court, this little-known story celebrates winning in the face of immeasurable odds and how one person can make a big difference.
While visiting the art museum, Katie has an adventure stepping in and out of five paintings by van Gogh, Gauguin, and Cezanne. Includes information about postimpressionism and the particular paintings and artists in the story.
“A fascinating window into an aspect of Jackie Kennedy Onassis that few of us know.” —USA Today History remembers Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis as the consummate first lady, the nation’s tragic widow, the millionaire’s wife, and, of course, the quintessential embodiment of elegance. Her biographers, however, skip over an equally important stage in her life: her nearly twenty-year-long career as a book editor. Jackie as Editor is the first book to focus exclusively on this remarkable woman’s editorial career. At the age of forty-six, Jacket went to work for the first time in twenty-two years. Greg Lawrence, who had three of his books edited by Jackie, draws from interviews with more than 125 of her former collaborators and acquaintances to examine one of the twentieth century’s most enduring subjects of fascination through a new angle. Over the last third of her life, Jackie shepherded more than a hundred books through the increasingly corporate halls of Viking and Doubleday, publishing authors as diverse as Diana Vreeland, Louis Auchincloss, George Plimpton, Bill Moyers, Dorothy West, Naguib Mahfouz, and even Michael Jackson. Jackie as Editor gives intimate new insights into the life of a complex and enigmatic woman. “Fascinating.” —Town & Country “Perceptive, impressively researched.” —Publishers Weekly “You can tell a lot about the late First Lady’s life by the books she loved, and those she edited in her nearly two decades as a publishing executive.” —O Magazine “A deeply admiring portrait.” —Kirkus Reviews “A must for Jackie fans.” —Sarah Bradford, New York Times–bestselling author of America’s Queen: The Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
"For four years, from the election of John Fitzgerald Kennedy in November 1960 until after the election of Lyndon Johnson in 1964, Clint Hill was the Secret Service agent assigned to guard the glamorous and intensely private Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. During those four years, he went from being a reluctant guardian to a fiercely loyal watchdog and, in many ways, her closest friend"--
Based on true events, this tale recounts the 1911 theft of history's most famous portrait, Leonardo da Vinci's MONA LISA, through the spririted narration of the proud thief himself.
Now, taking inspiration from a masterpiece of female beauty, mystery, and immortality, Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, Harriet Rubin reveals a powerful stratagem for finding happiness and fulfillment in midlife and beyond. Around the time a woman reaches 45, there is one enemy with the power to threaten her confidence, steal her beauty, make her feel invisible, and turn even the pleasures of life against her. That enemy is Time. Most women feel that an essential part of them dies when their youth is gone, yet the reality is women can grow more beautiful, experience new pleasures, and accomplish their best work later in life. Interweaving stories of iconic women throughout history, Rubin codifies ten tactics--including how to be noticed, how to create circles of influence with you at the center, and how to express talents that have been ripening over decades. In the process, she uncovers the key to mature power, the highest art of leadership.
A little girl and her family have just moved across the country by train. Their new neighborhood in the city of Toronto is very different from their home in the Saskatchewan bush, and at first everything about “there” seems better than “here.” The little girl’s dad has just finished building a dam across the Saskatchewan River, and his new project is to build a highway through Toronto. In Saskatchewan, he would come home for lunch every day, but now he doesn’t come until supper. The family used to love to look at the stars, and the northern lights dancing in the night sky. But in the city, all they can see is the glare from the streetlights. All the kids used to run and play together, but now older brother Doug has his own friends. Then one day there is a knock on the door. It is Anne, who lives kitty-corner and is also eight, going on nine, and suddenly living in Toronto takes on a whole new light. Laurel Croza and Matt James have beautifully captured the voice and intense feelings of a young child who, in the midst of upheaval, finds hope in her new surroundings.
