Monday with a Mad Genius by Mary Pope Osborne

Author:Mary Pope Osborne [Pope Osborne, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780375894602
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2007-05-18T07:00:00+00:00

“You cannot read my notes, can you?” said Leonardo.

Jack and Annie shook their heads.

“Hold them to a mirror,” said Leonardo.

Jack and Annie stood in front of a wall mirror.

Each held up a notebook and looked at its reflection in the mirror.

“Oh, I get it!” said Jack. He could read the words now! Leonardo had written everything backward—from right to left across the page. So the word bird was written as , and the word wind was written as .

“Why do you write this way?” asked Annie.

“People think I am trying to keep my ideas a secret,” said Leonardo. “But, in truth, I am left-handed, and when I write normally from left to right, I smear ink across the page. One day I realized that if I wrote backward, I would not be so messy.” He laughed and sat down at the table. As he took a bite of bread, he seemed his happy self again.

“What do you write in these notebooks?” said Jack.

“Oh, I’ve written down thousands of ideas,” said Leonardo. “For example—” He opened a notebook and read: “Fossils of tiny sea creatures have been found in the mountains of Italy. It is my belief that ocean water once covered the mountains millions of years ago.”

“Your belief is right,” said Jack.

Leonardo looked at Jack with surprise. “You seem so certain,” he said.

“Well, I know from science books that the oceans once covered many mountains of the earth, and that’s why you can find sea fossils there,” said Jack.

“We read lots of books,” said Annie.

“Indeed?” said Leonardo. Then he picked up another notebook and read: “If a wolf stares at you, your voice will become hoarse.”

“Um … that’s not true,” said Annie.

“It is not?” said Leonardo.

“Well, think about it,” said Annie. “How could an animal make a person hoarse? And why would they want to?”

Leonardo nodded. “Yes, I think I agree with you,” he said. He cleared his throat. Then he read another idea: “A spider hatches its eggs by staring at them.”

“Nooo,” said Jack and Annie together.

“No?” said Leonardo.

“Trust us,” said Jack, smiling. This is really fun, he thought, knowing more than a great genius. Scientists have discovered a lot since Leonardo’s time.

“All right. I don’t know why, but I shall trust you,” said Leonardo. He turned some pages and read: “The moon may be bright because it is made out of rippling water.”

Jack shook his head. “Actually it’s made out of rocks,” he said. “It’s bright because it reflects the light of the sun.” Jack knew lots of facts about the moon.

“And did you know there’s no wind on the moon?” said Annie. “So someday when people walk there, their footprints will last forever!”

Leonardo grinned. “Wonderful,” he said. “I fear you are both speaking nonsense. But I like your original thinking!”

He turned the page and read another entry:

“There must be a way to use a natural force, such as steam or wind, to help people do their tasks in less time, with less work—”

“That’s a great idea,” said Jack.

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