Da Vinci's Cat

Written by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Narrated by Sam Devereaux and Hope Newhouse

Two unlikely friends—Federico, in sixteenth-century Rome, and Bee, in present-day New Jersey—are linked through an amiable cat, Leonardo Da Vinci’s mysterious wardrobe, and an eerily perfect sketch of Bee. Newbery Honor author Catherine Gilbert Murdock’s Da Vinci’s Cat is a thrilling, time-slip fantasy about rewriting history to save the present. This inventive novel will engross anyone who loved When You Reach Me and A Wrinkle in Time.

Federico doesn’t mind being a political hostage in the Pope’s palace, especially now that he has a cat as a friend. But he must admit that a kitten walking into a wardrobe and returning full-grown a moment later is quite odd. Even stranger is Herbert, apparently an art collector from the future, who emerges from the wardrobe the next night. Herbert barters with Federico to get a sketch signed by the famous painter Raphael, but his plans take a dangerous turn when he hurries back to his era, desperate to save a dying girl.

Bee never wanted to move to New Jersey. When a neighbor shows Bee a sketch that perfectly resembles her, Bee, freaked out, solidifies her resolve to keep to herself. But then she meets a friendly cat and discovers a mysterious cabinet in her neighbor’s attic—a cabinet that leads her to Renaissance Rome. Bee, who has learned about Raphael and Michelangelo in school, never expected she’d get to meet them and see them paint their masterpieces.

This compelling time-slip adventure by Newbery Honor author Catherine Gilbert Murdock is full of action, mystery, history, art, and friendship—and features one unforgettable cat.

Includes an author’s note about the art, artists, and history that inspired the novel .

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: May 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9780063015289

Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Catherine Murdock grew up on a small farm in Connecticut and now lives in suburban Philadelphia with her husband, two brilliant unicycling children, several cats, and a one-acre yard that she is slowly transforming into a wee, but flourishing ecosystem. She is the author of several books, including the popular Dairy Queen series starring lovable heroine D. J. Schwenk,  Princess Ben, and Wisdom's Kiss.

Reviews for Da Vinci's Cat

[amzzz_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A cute little book about time travel and famous artists

[juliestielstra · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

As a lover of cats and art history, I had high hopes for this story. They were not fulfilled. The author clearly has done an enormous amount of research to get the details of early 16th-century Rome right, and then falls victim to the temptation to write them ALL into every page - every dish at several banquets, every item of clothing worn. The writing is often repetitive: she tells us multiple times in a single scene that Michelangelo stinks. She tells us - over and over - that Federico wants a friend. Paradoxically, there are elements of the art and artists and assumptions that *I* (as an adult art history grad) "got" that I'm not sure the intended middle-grade reader would, or would find terribly appealing. When the setting and characters shifted to present-day America, the carpentry just broke down and I bailed.Clumsy writing, tenuous plot machinery, and charmless characters... just didn't work for me.

[rbeffa_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book has only been out for several days and I saw it as a new release at my library. I took a chance on this middle-school level book when I read a few comments about it. It began as a pure delight. Historical fantasy with lots of detail from 1511 Rome with a young boy, Federico, held 'hostage' by the Pope as Raphael and Michelangelo paint the papal quarters and Sistine Chapel. Slightly irreverant and reminiscent of books like 'The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe' with a wardrobe here invented by Leonardo Da Vinci whose cat goes time travelling. The interactions between Federico and others in 1511 were fun.However when the story jumps to the present this adventure begins to stumble. The puzzle pieces don't quite fit. Just how old is the old woman? 110 and something? Where has Juno the time cat been for nearly a century? What first began to bother me was all the machinations trying to create a sense of urgency in the present with delayed trains and phone calls and so on. The charm that was with us at the start was rather suddenly gone although there were some clever moments.But ... when we return to Rome in 1511 the story picks up again, thankfully, and gets quite exciting when Federico gives chase to Michelangelo, riding Bathsheba, the fastest horse in Rome.This proved to be a very entertaining book. There are some very nice chapter decorations drawn by Paul Zelinsky as a little bonus.