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Madame Tussaud's Apprentice (2014)

by Kathleen Benner Duble(Favorite Author)

3.49 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1440581169 (ISBN13: 9781440581168)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Merit Press

review 1: Note: I was one of the early readers of this book (two chapters a month for a year), but recently read it in its entirety for the first time.16-year-old street urchin, Celie, has a photographic memory and can draw scenes in perfect detail. Because of her unusual talent, she becomes apprentice to Madame Tussaud at a momentous time (1789) in French history. Her apprenticeship puts her in contact with the court of Louis IX and Marie Antoinette, causing mixed feelings as she sees some of the royals as real people, not just oppressors causing the misery and poverty throughout France. Her palace experience often makes her feel at odds with her good friend, Algernon, who shares her impoverished background and strong sense of justice, but chooses to work with the revolution.Throu... moregh a compelling protagonist, young readers will learn the history of the French Revolution and be able to understand some of the human factors that led to revolution and, as Celie comes to understand, that change is not always easy or clean, or methods toward change black and white.
review 2: Celie has been orphaned after her father was killed by the Comte and her mother and brother starved. She is a very good artist, but is surviving on the streets of Paris thanks to Algernon, on whom she has a rather major crush. He is very much against the aristocracy and wants to work toward their downfall, since they caused the death of his love, Julia. When Celie is caught stealing, she is saved by Madame Tussaud, who wants Celie to help her work by creating drawings of backgrounds, which Celie can make very detailed thanks to her eidetic memory. Celie is glad to have food and shelter, and manages to get Algernon a place in the household as well. Madame works frequently with Marie Antoinette and her entourage on various projects, and takes her workers out to Versailles, where Celie learns that not all aristocrats are evil. Elizabeth in particular is very kind to everyone in the household, especially a young boy whose father dies from an illness. When the revolution starts heating up, Algernon is determined that Celie fight with him and forgo her life and work with Madame's wax works. Celie must decide whether she should embrace her new career of be true to her vow of exacting revenge for her family's deaths.Strengths: Have to admit that I really got into this one. The pacing was very good, alternating between exciting scenes and more sedate but interesting ones, and the information about the French Revolution was presented in a way that made it interesting. I was very leery of this, since the accelerated language arts students at my school were not fond of Les Miserables when it was assigned, but this was really fascinating! I should have expected as much, since this author's Phantoms in the Snow is very popular!Weaknesses: The romance seemed weak to me, which wouldn't have been a problem if it weren't right in the title. The cover isn't the best, but I'm not sure what I would put on the cover of this. less

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