If you walk into a certain room in a famous art museum, you will see a beautiful bronze sculpture of a little dancer.  She stands with one foot forward, her hands clasped behind her back—and an expression on her face that seems tired and a little sad.

If you stop and speak with the guard who looks after the room in the museum, he can tell you a story about the little ballerina.  "Her name is Marie," says the guard.  "I look at her standing there every day, and I think I know her pretty well..." As you look at the statue of the little ballerina, the guard goes on: "Look at little Marie.  I'll tell you something. If you stare at her long enough, she almost seems to move!"

Open this book and you can read the ballerina's story for yourself.  Its setting is Paris of many years ago. The story belongs to Marie, but it's also a story about a very famous artist—a man named Edgar Degas.

Beautifully illustrated with author Laurence Anholt's watercolors and his reproductions of some of Degas's best known works of art, Degas and the Little Dancer is a wonderful introduction to the life and work of a great artist.

From the dust jacket