Product Description

Marie's family cannot afford to put her through dancing school, and she fears that she will never reach her goal of becoming a ballerina, but one day a surprise audition is held in the oddest of places and greatly changes Marie's destiny.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1386036 in Books
• Published on: 1996-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 72 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6. An imitation of the "American Girl" series, this "Girlhood Journey" features Marie, a 10 year old living in Paris in 1775. Her passion to dance is nurtured by her ballet teacher, who finds her a patron who will sponsor her advanced training at Court. Other major characters include Marie's happy-go-lucky best friend, Joelle, and a 13-year-old girl from the Connecticut Colony who has come to Paris with her father to study painting. Readers are fed snippets of history through the conversations of students who come to Marie's parents' cafe, a raid on Joelle's parents' bakery by hungry citizens who cannot get flour, and glimpses of street life. Decorative full-color illustrations accompany the text. Characterizations are minimal, and the dialogue is stilted. The plot provides a lot of exposition and enough action to lead into Book Two. It is questionable how many middle grade readers will be absorbed enough to care. (Note: a full-page, full-color ad for dolls that correspond with titles in this series appears on the last page.)?Amy Kellman, The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Marie is my favorite girlhood journeys girl!
Marie is really cool! An invatation to dance s the beginning of her adventures! The best part was the suprise at the end! I think you'll like it!

A good book with a big surprise at the end
Marie dreams of being a ballet dancer, but cannot follow her dream without a sponsor. This book was neat because Marie could do some dancing, and had a big surprise at the end (I think the best books have a surprise at the end!)

Good book
This book is about a young girl named Marie who lives in France in 1775. She loves to dance ballet, and longs to become a ballerina. Life for her is good, until she hears talk about trouble, because the king is taxes are to high. Poor people are not getting anything to eat. This book is good, and I recommend it.