4Q 3P This engrossing and interesting book will appeal to select groups but will appeal to a broad audience if pushed.

Marie, Dancing offers a view into a poor family's life in 19th century Paris, France. Young Marie is a dancer with the Paris Opera along with her older and younger sisters. She gains the notice of artist Edgar during practice and is chosen to model for his sculpture Young Dancer, Aged Fourteen.

As I read I felt that Meyer created an accurate portrayal of a girl of Marie's status though some may feel that the story is little dark for historical fiction. Watching Marie's sacrifices for her family but also seeing her ultimately live a good life provides an uplifting message for teen readers. I appreciated learning more about Paris during this time period and getting an idea of the process that Degas used to create his art as well as the process of becoming a ballerina but also felt like Meyer's characters were rounded out and appealing enough to carry the story along. ( )

This book is about a dancer named Marie von Gotham. At the beginning of the book, she is asked to model for a artist called Degas. But Marie is not going to be modeling for a portrait. She will be modeling for a statue that is made from wax. Marie's mother is excited. Marie's older sister, Antoinette also modeled for Degas. Marie's mother wants all her children to become famous dancers. But later in the book, Antoinette is taken to jail and misses too many days of ballet practice. Antoinette is removed from the ballet school. Marie has been too busy trying to help Antoinette get out of jail that she too misses classes. Marie then fails her test and she is also removed. The only dancer left is Marie's younger sister, Charlotte. Charlotte stays in school and becomes a teacher at the school when she is older.
This book was very interesting to read. I thought it was interesting to see where Degas got his inspiration for his statue. It was a pity that Marie had to stop taking ballet. Ballet was her life practically. But Marie knew the consequences. This book is for anybody who likes to read about history in a fictional way. ( )

Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com

I can't count the times that I've seen a truly inspiring painting or sculpture and wondered what the inspiration behind it was. With MARIE, DANCING, the story behind Edgar Degas's well known sculpture, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, is brought to vivid life in this fictionalized account.

At fourteen, Marie van Goethem still holds out hope that one day her life will be, if not grand, then better than it is now. Her drunken mother is unable to hold down a job, and the place where they're forced to live can only be described as squalor. Marie knows their family--made up of Mother, Tante Helene, older sister Antoinette, and younger sister Charlotte--are poor and destitute. The only thing that brings joy to Marie's life is dancing in the Paris Opera. Ballet is her life, along with the life of both of her sisters, enrolled under the tutelage of Madame Theodore at the ballet school.

Things soon change, though, for Marie and her entire family. Antoinette is being wooed by much older, and much wealthier men, and although she promises to send them money when she's set up as a mistress by her benefactor, she never does. But when Marie meets Edgar Degas and he asks her to pose for him, Marie prays that her life is about to change forever.

And change it does, but not in the ways she had suspected. Mother is still drinking, Charlotte is the only girl of the three who shows real promise as a dancer who can make it her career, and her love interest, Jean-Pierre, has asked her to wait for him while he makes a name and a home for the two of them. It's only within the safety and glory of Degas's studio, or while on the stage of the Opera that Marie feels secure that her life will improve--until the day she's dismissed from the School, Antoinette asks her to play nursemaid to her unborn child, and Jean-Pierre asks her to move away from Paris, the only home she's ever known.

Carolyn Meyer has brought the world of Paris, art, and dance to vivid life in MARIE, DANCING. This is a story of a girl who only wants a better life, some small pleasure within this dreary existence. And although posing for Degas doesn't change Marie's life in the way she had planned, it definitely does change it more than she could have ever dared hope or imagine. ( )

I'm really not into Art...but the historical details were wonderful. Marie lives in a world that is a contrast between what she is on stage and what her real life is all about. I love historical fiction, so I enjoyed the book. It was a quick read. ( )

Kearsten says: Tells the story behind Degas’s sculpture Petite Dansuese: The Little Dancer. Marie van Goetham lives a hard life of poverty, brightened only by her work dancing at the Opera, and her love for a friend from her youth. An interesting portrait of the life/lives of dancers in Paris in the late 1800s, but not gripping by any stretch. ( )