E. L Konigsburg

Four students, with their own individual stories, develop a special bond and attract the attention of their teacher, a paraplegic, who chooses them to represent their sixth-grade class in the Academic Bowl competition.

When twelve-year-old Benjamin refuses to see what is going on in his chemistry lab, the little man who lives inside of him must finally speak out in public for the safety of all concerned.

"Connor is sure his best friend, Branwell, couldn't have hurt Branwell's baby half sister, Nikki. But Nikki lies in a coma, and Branwell is in a juvenile behavioral center, suspected of a horrible crime and unable to utter the words to tell what really happened. Connor is the only one who might be able to break through Branwell's wall of silence. But how can he prove Branwell didn't commit the unspeakable act of which he's accused - when Branwell...

Relates, from the point of view of his servant Salai, how Leonardo da Vinci came to paint the Mona Lisa.