Bright, inquisitive young readers plied Melanie with questions about glamorous, doomed Marie Antoinette (1755-93) the other night during her visit to Christianne Hayward's Lyceum. Having studied The Midnight-Blue Marble as part of their Chronicle Crusaders activities, the kids were fascinated by the tragic French Queen who lost her head to the sharp caress of Madame Guillotine in the French Revolution. The Crusaders wanted to know: How did Melanie become interested in Marie Antoinette? Answer: the mystery of the extravagant diamond necklace. No one has ever figured out just who craftily disguised herself as the Queen and stole the necklace from two Parisian jewelers. In MBM, Melanie postulates her own theory.
Another question: was Louis XVI really fascinated with clocks, as Melanie depicted him in MBM? Answer: mais oui. Louis adored taking clocks apart and putting them back together again. A pity he didn't notice that his country was falling apart around him!
Now, for some Crusader comments on MBM: "Best book that we've read in Chronicle Crusaders." "Totally awesome." "Really scary." This last one from a reader who ran off and hid when we discussed the guillotine. So ... we'll chop this post off now.
Thanks to Dr. Christianne Hayward for deeming MBM worthy of Lyceum study, and for inviting Melanie! As for the French Queen, what can one do but throw up one's hands and exclaim, "Oh, Marie!"
