Marie Antoinette: Princess of Versailles, Austria-France 1769

I enjoyed this book for what it is: a glimpse into the teenaged Marie Antoinette before and just after she weds Louis, written for 3rd or 4th grade girls who enjoy the romantic idea of being a princess. This book is part of the series called 'The Royal Diaries' and so it also appeals to the voyeur-like curiosity of girls at that age about the private life of girls who seem to have everything.

The voice of Antonia, as Marie Antoinette was called by her family, is appropriately charming, but not overly intellectual or snobby. She likes to have fun, but has her sorrows as well. She fantasizes about her future husband and is appalled when he turns out to be not so very good-looking and boorish. The life of a princess turns out not to be all show more fun and games -- there are many strictures on her behavior and her choices in life. Still, her personality seems to win out and she manages to find joy and friendship with her husband that protects them to an extent from the intrigues and ugliness of a very public court life. Her ultimate fate is briefly summed up in the epilogue.

This book will not appeal to all girls, my daughter was not the least bit interested in reading this, but it will be liked by girls of a very narrow age group who have a romanticized view of royalty and of the past in general. show less

"I look up now into the oval mirror and see barely a trace of the mud-splattered girl tearing through the woodland on her horse, or the barefoot girl wading at Schonbrunn... I have become what Mama set out for me to be. Majestic. A Dauphine and eventually a Queen."
So writes the headstrong 13-year-old Maria Antonia--future Queen of France--in her diary in the year she is to be married off to Dauphin Louis Auguste, eldest grandson of the French king Louis XV.
To prepare her for this awesome responsibility, she must be trained to write, read, speak French, dress, act... even breathe.
Things get even worse as she is shipped off to the court of Versailles and introduced to her puffy, awkward future husband and confronted with the court's show more ridiculous customs. show less

I think I would have loved this series as a kid, being able to learn all about what life was like for important girls in history. About two-thirds of this book takes place in Austria, before Marie Antoinette married Louis Auguste, and then the last third is about her first months in Versailles. (Incidentally, I am fairly certain that Versailles in the early 1700s was one of the most absurd, repulsive places in all of history.) Lasky did extensive research for all the books in this series, and I love the idea of making real people out of historical characters who certainly never seemed real to me as I learned about them.

To forge an incredibly powerful political alliance, thirteen-year-old Marie Antoinette of Austria is betrothed to Dauphin Louis Auguste, who will one day be the king of France. To prepare her for this awesome responsibility, she must be trained to write, read, speak French, dress, act . . . even breathe. Things become more difficult for her when she is separated from her family and sent to the court of Versailles to meet her future husband. Opinionated and headstrong Marie Antoinette must find a way to fit in at the royal court, and get along with her fiancé. The future of Austria and France falls upon her shoulders. But as she lives a luxurious life inside the palace gates, out on the streets the people of France face hunger and show more poverty. Through the pages of her diary, Marie captures the isolation, the lavish parties and gowns, her struggle to find her place, and the years leading up her ascendance of the throne . . . and a revolution. show less

It was a bit slow at first, but I enjoyed this story of the life of Marie Antoinette who often represents the broken monarchy of France. This story makes her more human and shows the different set of challenges she faced in her role as princess.

Not the best book in the series I've read so far, but still good. I learned some stuff, and I did end up connecting with Marie, so that's good. I did enjoy the book, though there were a lot of lists for some reason? And I felt it was long winded at part, but definitely still 4 out of 5 stars from me.

31. In my opinion, “Marie Antoinette” by Kathryn Lasky would be a great book to incorporate into one’s classroom. Lasky wrote this book in first person from the perspective of Marie Antoinette. The writing is organized in a manner that uses Lasky’s interpretation of Marie Antoinette’s diary to convey important historical content, facts relevant to Marie Antoinette’s reign, and the events that led up to the French Revolution. By choosing to use Marie Antoinette’s diary as the structural base for her writing, Lasky was able to bring more meaning to Antoinette’s story through making readers feel that they are receiving a first-hand account of her life story. Also, Lasky is able to incorporate the relevance of key historical show more dates during Antoinette’s reign by providing a date along with each of her entries. The nature of the Antoinette’s language in the story is written in a manner that would be understandable to young readers, however in several instances, Lasky was still able to incorporate authentic terms that are representative of French culture during the sixteenth century. For example, Lasky writes, “today is the ceremony of the ‘remise’ or the delivery.” In French culture, the ceremony of remise occurred when the future queen was delivered to the future king. The main message, or purpose, of this book is to inform young readers about Marie Antoinette, her ascendance of the throne, and her involvement in the events leading up to the French Revolution. show less