The Smile Book Report

The Smile

by Donna Jo Napoli

Main Characters

The Smile follows the story of Elisabetta or Lisa (Mona Lisa) and her close family and friends. Readers are quickly introduced to her mother, her father, her best friend Silvia, and Silvia’s brother Christian. Later in the story, characters like Leonardo da Vinci, Lisa’s step mother Caterina and her sister Camilla, and the royal Medici family are made known.

Main Conflict

Lisa is a part of a noble family, and she is almost at the age where she will be betrothed. The family wants to throw her a party in Florence to find some potential suitors but sadly, on the way there, her mother was crushed underneath and horse and died. Lisa’s party was delayed, but soon after her mother's death, her father got remarried to a young woman named Caterina. Lisa was in complete denial; she absolutely hated her stepmother for no reason other than having lost her real mother. Before her mother died, Lisa met the renowned artist Leonardo da Vinci who introduced her to the Medici family who was currently ruling over Florence. That was when she met Giuliano de’ Medici. After her mother's death, they developed a personal relationship and soon fell in love. They decided they would marry, but before they could announce it, Giuliano was whisked away due to a conflict of interests in the city of Florence. The Medici family was no longer in rule and stayed away from Florence. When Giuliano finally returned to speak with Lisa’s father, they discovered she had already been betrothed. Because he wanted her to be happy, Giuliano left and Lisa was crushed. Soon after, she married Francesco del Giocondo, left Florence, and gave birth to her five children. Lisa had come to peace with what had happened and she learned to be happy. In the ending, Leonardo visited her in hopes of being able to  paint her and after four long years, the famous Mona Lisa painting was finished.

3 Important Quotes

• “It’s Leonardo da Vinci, the son of the notary Ser Piero” (Napoli 32).
• Da Vinci was very relevant and famous during that time, and he still is today.
• “Girolamo Savonarola [...] I heard he said Lorenzo led Florence into debauchery” (Napoli 33).
• Savonarola was a monk who was preaching very new ideals and concepts. Who was mentioned often throughout the story. He took over Florence after encouraging the people to throw Piero off of the throne.
• “That’s the smile I want you to paint” (Napoli 252).
• This is suggesting that Giuliano is the reason Leonardo painted Lisa’s smile the way he did, and why the Mona Lisa is such a world famous painting.

3 Historically True Events

• Leonardo da Vinci did paint the Mona Lisa.
• This was the historical event that the novel was based on.
• The way the author chose to end the novel.
• Mona Lisa married Francesco del Giocondo.
• This was the resolution to the main conflict in the story.
• Girolamo Savonarola was a preacher who was known for preaching in Florence, Italy during the Renaissance.
• Savonarola’s role in the story was the main reason that the main character could not marry who she wanted.

Overall Success

• It was an overall successful novel with a rating of 3.76/5 stars and a total of 1,631 ratings on goodreads.com.
• I personally thought it was successful because I enjoyed the story.

Author’s Facts

• Professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College.
• Many of her novels have been selected to be ALA Best Books.
• Her novel Zel was an American Bookseller Pick of the Lists, a Publishers Weekly Best Book, a Bulletin Blue Ribbon, and a School Library Journal Best Book.