We are introduced to twelve young girls who live in an "old house in Paris that was covered in vines". These girls walk around in two single-file lines, sleep in a dormitory, and experience both good and bad things on their morning walks. We're then introduced to the shortest girl, Madeline, who's brave, cocky, and enjoys winter sports and scaring the teacher Miss Clavel.
One night, Miss Clavel wakes up in the middle of the night and gets a sense that something is amiss. Madeline is crying and seems unwell, so Miss Clavel calls a doctor named Dr. Cohn, who determines that it's appendicitis. She's rushed to the hospital while everyone else cries, and wakes up two hours later.
Ten years later, the others visit Madeline, and the other girls are excited to see that she has been given new toys and candy and has a scar on her abdomen. That night, Miss Clavel again wakes up thinking something is wrong and dashes into the dormitory... but this time, everyone's okay; the other girls are just jealous of Madeline and want their own appendices removed.
This book provides examples of
- Collective Death Glare: The kids are seen giving the stink-eye in unison to a man trying to steal a purse full of money.
- Eek, a Mouse!!: Madeline is the only girl not to be afraid of mice.
- Everybody Cries: When Madeline is taken to the hospital, everyone in the room cries.
- Go-to-Sleep Ending: The book ends with Miss Clavel telling all the girls to go to sleep.
- Inelegant Blubbering: When she gets appendicitis, Madeline cries a lot and her eyes are described as red.
- Inexplicably Awesome: It's never said how Miss Clavel knows when things are "not right".
- Instant Illness: Madeline doesn't seem sick until she wakes up crying.
- Mood Whiplash: It starts out describing the girls and despite showing an attempted robbery and mentioning they were "very sad" sometimes, it's still relatively light-hearted... but then we cut to Miss Clavel waking up with a sudden sense of unease.
- Ruptured Appendix: The book is about Madeline getting surgery for appendicitis.
- Shock-and-Switch Ending: Madeline's appendix is out, and it seems like everything is happy... but then Miss Clavel again says, "Something is not right!"; the very phrase she used when Madeline had appendicitis... but this time, the girls are okay; they just want their appendices removed because of jealousy.
