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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.

Marie is a young woman living in Paris during the beginnings of the revolution. Her parents run a cafe and take on boarders. One of the elder boarders is teaching Marie ballet. The most recent boarder is a young woman from America who has come to Paris to study painting. The two girls and Marie's best friend, Joelle, discuss their hopes and dreams for the future. Not all is well. Marie is not likely to continue dance without a sponsor. Joelle's family's bakery is a target of riots when the people of Paris are in need of flour. These events still don't keep the book from being quite cheery. The book is a part of the Girlhood Journeys series, an imitation of the American Girl series. Two books about Marie follow this one. Due to the lack of popularity of these books, they are not necessary for inclusion in collections, unless you have readers that have exhausted the American Girl series and have a strong desire for more of the same. ( )

Marie loves to dance more than anything, but her life isn’t all dancing. She experiences changes in her own life and in all of Paris. She spends time with her best friend, Joelle, and new American friend, Prudence, and wonders if she will be able to experience her own dream of becoming a dancer in a changing Paris. The history is slightly sketchy. ( )