In this way, it reminded me more of A Company of Swans by Eva Ibbotson, where dancing is placed second to the other themes and plots of the book. Instead, the focus of this book seemed to be more on Marie’s condition in life as the daughter of a poor laundress with two sisters. Usually it was just talked about from a different setting, such as after a performance or on the way to the studio.

Compared to other dance books I’ve read, including Bunheads by Sophie Flack, On Pointe by Lorie Ann Grover, and To Dance: A Ballerina’s Graphic Novel by Siena Cherson Siegel and Mark Siegel, very little of the book takes place in the dance studio, and when it does, none of the actual dancing is described. I was very disappointed by the lack of actual dancing in this book. Although this is a very well-written book about a young girl struggling in a very poor life in early 20th century Paris, it was not what I was expecting and I didn’t enjoy it as much as I hoped I would. In this deeply moving, historically based account, Carolyn Meyer examines the life of the model for Edgar Degas’s most famous sculpture, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen.Īlthough this book is titled Marie, Dancing, I found it was very heavy on the Marie side of things and lacking in the dancing half and the implied Edgar Degas theme as well. And she dreams about being with her true love. She dreams about a life as a ballerina on the stage of the Opéra. Degas each week, she dreams about supporting her family without being corrupted like most young dancers. But when famed artist Edgar Degas demands Marie’s presence in his studio, it appears that her life will be transformed: He will pay her to pose for a new sculpture, and he promises to make her a star.Īs Marie patiently stands before Mr.

For her, dancing is the only joy to counter the pain inflicted by hunger, her mother’s drinking, and her selfish older sister. Marie van Goethem, a fourteen-year-old ballet dancer in the famed Paris Opéra, has led a life of hardship and poverty. Genres: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Romance, Balletįormat: Audiobook, narrated by Carine Montbertrand Although this is a very well-written book about a young girl struggling in a very poor life in early 20th century Paris, it was not what I was expecting and I didn’t enjoy it as much as I hoped I would. Gwen’s Disappointment in Marie, Dancing by Carolyn MeyerĪlthough this book is titled Marie, Dancing, I found it was very heavy on the Marie side of things and lacking in the dancing half and the implied Edgar Degas theme as well.