When Winslow Homer arrives to visit his family, Aurelia's tangled past becomes unraveled. Her mysterious past continues to haunt her, though she quickly becomes involved in the community. Fleeing to Townsend, MA, she finds work with a kind family. Shipwrecked and orphaned at the age of five, she was raised in Boston by an increasingly senile woman and her predatory nephew. Past immediately draws readers into Aurelia's story. Gr 4-6-These series titles create backstories for the young women who posed for great artists. Link this to Carolyn Meyer's Marie, Dancing (2005). Young dancers will particularly enjoy the evocative passages when Sylvie is on stage or in class. Though readers may be unfamiliar with this historical period, they will be swept along by the strong story line. The artist Degas makes cameo appearances, and one of his paintings is used on the cover. To Sylvie, this period of upheaval brings challenges and loss but also growth in understanding and independence, as well as inches. When war comes to Paris, it brings hardship, hunger, death, and occasionally the closing of the opera house. She strives to dance well and to grow three-quarters of an inch so that she can join the ballet, while her widowed mother takes in laundry to make ends meet. From the promising new Portraits series, this historical novel takes place in the 1870s in Paris, where Sylvie is a "little rat," or young pupil of the Paris Opera Ballet. Fans of dance will be engrossed, while others may have difficulty getting past the jargon to find the fine work within.-Christina Stenson-Carey, Albany Public Library, NY Booklist 12/1/05 Lasky, Kathryn. This typical ballet story becomes an exciting coming-of-age tale. After witnessing the horror, she must decide if she can ever return to the magic of the stage. When bloody battles rage throughout the city, she is drawn into the real world for the first time in her life. Sylvie, a young student at the Paris Opera Ballet School, grows up amid the uncertainty of the Franco-Prussian War. Fire introduces the model for Degas's L'Etoile. The portrayal of town life is deep, compelling, and gently humorous. Keeping the many characters straight may be confusing for some readers, but the scenes of Aurelia posing for the artist are beautifully integrated with the plot.
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