Ziarnik, Natalie. Madeleine’s Light.

Ziarnik, Natalie.  Madeleine’s Light.  Boyd's Mills Press   unp  $17.95 978-1-59078-855-4 elem        E-BN       

This is the beautifully told and illustrated story of the artist Camille Claudel and her friendship with a small girl who inspired her to try to capture the souls of her subjects in her sculptures.  Camille goes to a small chateau looking for some rest and a place where she could work quietly.  To her surprise she encounters the granddaughter of the owner of the chateau, who had a brightness inside of her, a spirit that Camille wants to capture in her sculpture.  They form a friendship, and while little Madeline works on a miniature sculpture of a bird, a gift for her grandmother, Camille is using her as a model.
 

It is the sculpture of the little girl that changes the direction of the artist’s work and leads her to try to capture the souls of her subjects.   In reality, little is known of the little girl who inspired the artist.    -- Magna Diaz

Beautiful and vivid water-color pictures create a magical story.