The Hundred Dresses

Rating:
Summary: Missing the Point
Review: (...)
An incredibly ugly depiction of a little Polish girl and her classmates making fun of her. Promotes the stereotypical "Dumb Pollack" without showing any betterment of the little girl's situation. I found this book very offensive. I had ordered it as a gift for a little girl, but this book is wildy inappropriate in that there is no moral resolution at the end. The tormenters get away with their harassment, and there is only suffering for the Polish girl. The only thing it would teach a child is that you can get away with being bigoted and rude to others. Too bad Amazon doesn't allow for a zero rating because this because deserves it. "

(...) Of course it is an ugly story; it is also realistic. Children do treat one another that way; adults do too. As another reviewer pointed out, although the little Polish girl is not stated explicitly to be Jewish, it is very much a Holocaust story; although she is definately not African-American, it is a Civil Rights story; although she is (probably) not a Lesbian, it is a gay-bashing story. It is the story of anyone who is put upon because she/he is or is percieved as 'different', and how this sort of thing can only go on when good people stand by and do nothing.

Of the two other little girls in the story, the one who makes fun of the poor Polish girl and the other who stands by and doesn't want to defend her (although she knows she should)--how do you think they feel at the end of the story? Will they do it again? And, what if later 'the shoe is on the other foot', and they find themselves victims?

Every child will be able to identify with each of the children in the story, and the story can be a starting point for discussions of prejudice, bullying, and many other important moral topics. The book doesn't give pat answers, nor does it tell us what to think--but it gives us an opportunity to think about these things.

Rating:
Summary: Missing the Point
Review: (...)
An incredibly ugly depiction of a little Polish girl and her classmates making fun of her. Promotes the stereotypical "Dumb Pollack" without showing any betterment of the little girl's situation. I found this book very offensive. I had ordered it as a gift for a little girl, but this book is wildy inappropriate in that there is no moral resolution at the end. The tormenters get away with their harassment, and there is only suffering for the Polish girl. The only thing it would teach a child is that you can get away with being bigoted and rude to others. Too bad Amazon doesn't allow for a zero rating because this because deserves it. "

(...) Of course it is an ugly story; it is also realistic. Children do treat one another that way; adults do too. As another reviewer pointed out, although the little Polish girl is not stated explicitly to be Jewish, it is very much a Holocaust story; although she is definately not African-American, it is a Civil Rights story; although she is (probably) not a Lesbian, it is a gay-bashing story. It is the story of anyone who is put upon because she/he is or is percieved as 'different', and how this sort of thing can only go on when good people stand by and do nothing.

Of the two other little girls in the story, the one who makes fun of the poor Polish girl and the other who stands by and doesn't want to defend her (although she knows she should)--how do you think they feel at the end of the story? Will they do it again? And, what if later 'the shoe is on the other foot', and they find themselves victims?

Every child will be able to identify with each of the children in the story, and the story can be a starting point for discussions of prejudice, bullying, and many other important moral topics. The book doesn't give pat answers, nor does it tell us what to think--but it gives us an opportunity to think about these things.

Rating:
Summary: A book for all time
Review: Every kid who has ever stood by and watched another kid be teased, or been a victim of a bully, or been a bully, and every one else in between should read this book. Wanda Petronski, a poor Polish kid who lives in the poor part of the neighborhood, and wears the same old faded dress each day, announces to her classmates one morning that she has a hundred dresses and matching shoes all lined up in her closet. This starts the dresses games, where Peggy, each chance she gets, mockingly asks Wanda questions about her dresses, as Maddie stands by and watches uncomfortably. Maddie feels guilty for not stopping the teasing, but she is afraid that she will lose Peggy's friendship, or worse, that Peggy will start to tease her, as she is also poor. One day, Peggy and Maddie notice that Wanda is not in school. Then their teacher reads a letter from Wanda's father that says that the Petronskis have moved to the city where they will not be made fun of for being Polish or having a funny name. The girls feel even worse when their teacher announces that the winner of a class contest is none other than Wanda Petronski, and they set out to find Wanda and apologize to her. The best part of the book is when it describes Maddie's feelings: on the one hand, she feels guilty for standing by and letting Peggy pick on a girl who has never harmed anyone, and on the other hand, she is afraid to say anything to Peggy for fear of being teased herself. At the end of the book, Maddie decides that she will never again stand by and watch someone get teased.

Rating:
Summary: A Lesson in Friendship
Review: My daughter's fourth grade teacher gave this book to a group of girls in her class who were struggling with adolescent friendship issues. I read it in about half an hour and felt the lesson come through loudly and clearly. The well-written story, sweet and innocent, focuses on two girls who mistreat another girl, Wanda, because she is different.

Wanda is a poor girl with a funny last name and she wears the same ill-fitting (yet clean) dress to school each day. One girl, Peggy, is the most popular girl in school, and doesn't seem to realize she's being unthoughtful towards Wanda. The other girl, Maddie, knows she's unthoughtful, primarily by not speaking up to defend Wanda. She realizes she acts out of fear, because she too is not wealthy or well-dressed and she's afraid the tide of insult and ridicule could turn her way at any time. Ultimately, both girls realize their mistaken attitude toward Wanda and try to make amends, hoping against hope that it is not too late.

These are very real feelings for nine and ten year old girls and this book tells a helpful/valuable story. Highly recommend.

From the author of I'm Living Your Dream Life and The Things I Wish I'd Said, McKenna Publishing Group.

Rating:
Summary: Every child should read this book
Review: My eight-year old son was given 'The Hundred Dresses' as a vacation book report assignment. Wanda Petronski was laughed at at school for her name, for her faded blue dress that didn't hang right and for offsetting her poverty by tales of her hundred dresses at home. But her dress was always clean, washed daily herself because she had no mother and often it would not be dry by next morning. There was a drawing competition and Wanda submitted 100 drawings of her dresses and she won the girls' prize. But by the time of the announcement of the winners Wanda had been moved to the city because of the teasing. Some deep soul searching was triggered in a concerned classmate whose life was changed for ever as she realized that her passive role had contributed to Wanda's fate. Every child should write a report on this book and its deeper meaning.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book
Review: My teacher read this book to our class in the third grade. I remember trying to check it out at the library and it was always checked out. I've always remembered this book and will purchase it to read again because I loved it.

Rating:
Summary: It's a good reminder to be nice to others.
Review: The setting of the book took place up in Boggins Heights and in a school. The main characters in the book, The Hundred Dresses, were Peggy, Maddie, and Wanda. The book was about a girl named Wanda who was a new kid in school. She told girls like Maddie and Peggy that she had one hundred dresses. No one believed her. All they did was tease her. When Wanda brought in her dresses, everybody discovered she had drawn one hundred of them. Wanda's family left the school because everybody was teasing her.

I think the book was written to tell the reader not to tease someone. I didn't like it when kids teased me because it seemed like no one liked me. I liked the book because it has a lot of drama in it. It had sad moments like when Wanda left the school, serious moments when Peggy and Maddie were looking for Wanda, and happy moments like Wanda giving away two of her dresses.

I am glad my teacher made me read the book. It is a good reminder (to boys and girls), to be nice to others.

Rating:
Summary: A book that has stayed with me for 15 years
Review: This book was assigned to me in third grade by the most wonderful teacher and I loved it then. Now, 15 years later, my 9 year old cousin started asking about good books to read--and this book immediately popped into my mind. She's currently at school asking her school librarian when she can check it out and read it.

I thoroughly reccommend it to anyone looking for a book for their daughter or son to read in elementary school. I hope the parent reads it too!!

Rating:
Summary: Wanda Petronski's Success Story
Review: This story about Wanda Petronski, an immigrant girl from a poor family ridiculed by her more popular, wealthier and American-born classmates is as relevant to children today as when it was first published. I read and re-read this book as a child; like Wanda, I was the only one in my class with a funny-sounding Eastern European last name. Fortunately, my situation was not as dire as hers, but I felt Wanda and I were kindred souls.

Estes' perceptive take on the effect of cliques of popular girls and the influence they wield was ahead of its time. The relationships between the girls echoes what we read today in books like "Odd Girl Out" and "Queen Bees and Wannabes." Peggy, an Alpha Girl if there ever was one, ridicules Wanda's foreigness and the shabby blue dress (her only dress) that she washes and irons each night to wear the next day. Maddie, Peggy's wannabe friend, is troubled by Peggy's insensitivity but is afraid to speak up. Maddie's afraid that Peggy might turn on her, too. Then, Wanda stops coming to school. The other children forget about Wanda, but Maddie still thinks about her and wonders what happened to her. She persuades Peggy to go visit Wanda's house on the wrong side of the tracks; the part of town where the poor people and "foreigners" live. Wanda has moved away to a larger city, but the experience of knowing Wanda has changed Maddie for the better. She's more independent and willing to question Peggy and the values she represents. She's more open and empathetic to the experiences of people from different and less fortunate backgrounds than her.

And what becomes of Wanda? In this book's wonderfully ingenious ending, Wanda takes her poverty and marginalization and turns to a creative end. Wanda, so poor that she only owns one dress, paints pictures of a hundred dresses and sends them back to the class at her old school. Wanda refuses to be victimized by her classmate's ridicule. Instead, she becomes an artist! I loved this ending as a child; it shows how children can overcome their problems with imagination and a respect for their own inner lives.

Louis Slobodkin's illustrations complement the story perfectly (he also collaborated with Estes on the Moffat books). His evocative artwork supplies just the right amount of detail and leaves the rest to the reader's imagination. This is a truly great work of children's literature and we should rejoice that it's still in print.

Rating:
Summary: Another children's book that made me cry
Review: Wanda is the poor motherless girl from Poland. By the author's description, you get the feeling that even if she doesn't have a perfect verbal command of English, she understands perfectly what is said to and about her and her shabby clothing.

Worlds apart is Peggy, the popular rich girl in her class. After Wanda makes an attempt to fit into a conversation by talking about her beautiful dresses, Peggy begins what seems like a game to her and taunts Wanda daily in front of a crowd of classmates about all of the beautiful dresses in her closet.

Bridging their world is Maddie, Peggy's best friend. While she isn't isolated by a language barrier and has Peggy's unspoken social protection, she is uncomfortably aware that her poverty makes her more similar to Wanda than Peggy. While Maddie gratefully accepts Peggy's castoffs, she is terrified of the power Peggy's generosity gives her. The daily game of picking on Wanda continually hardens Maddie's uncomfortable vulnerability; she is keenly aware that speaking out in Wanda's defense could put her in Wanda's place.

The "truth" is that Wanda does have 100 dresses, just not the kind Peggy has. The moment where Wanda shyly makes her fateful declaration is possibly the most poignant in the whole book. Of course she must have known that people would wonder why someone with so many beautiful dresses would always wear the same shabby one. Did she naively, hopefully think that someone would ask her about them and maybe let her into their world? Instead, she was met with nasty assumptions and taunting.

The book ends on a melancholy note. Maddie (and perhaps Peggy) become better people as a result of what happens to Wanda and her family, but Maddie (and the reader) are haunted by Wanda's unkown fate. Like Maddie, we can only hope for the best.