Non-Print Audio Book on CDRecommended for Ages 6-12Amazon.com Review of BookWanda Petronski lives way up in shabby Boggins Heights, and she doesn't have any friends. Every day she wears a faded blue dress, which wouldn't be too much of a problem if she didn't tell her schoolmates that she had a hundred dresses at home--all silk, all colors, and velvet, too. This lie--albeit understandable in light of her dress-obsessed circle--precipitates peals of laughter from her peers, and she never hears the end of it. One day, after Wanda has been absent from school for a few days, the teacher receives a note from Wanda's father, a Polish immigrant: "Dear teacher: My Wanda will not come to your school any more. Jake also. Now we move away to big city. No more holler Polack. No more ask why funny name. Plenty of funny names in the big city. Yours truly, Jan Petronski."Maddie, a girl who had stood by while Wanda was taunted about her dresses, feels sick inside: "True, she had not enjoyed listening to Peggy ask Wanda how many dresses she had in her closet, but she had said nothing.... She was a coward.... She had helped to make someone so unhappy that she had had to move away from town." Repentant, Maddie and her friend Peggy head up to Boggins Heights to see if the Petronskis are still there. When they discover the house is empty, Maddie despairs: "Nothing would ever seem good to her again, because just when she was about to enjoy something--like going for a hike with Peggy to look for bayberries or sliding down Barley Hill--she'd bump right smack into the thought that she had made Wanda Petronski move away." Ouch. This gentle Newbery Honor Book convincingly captures the deeply felt moral dilemmas of childhood, equally poignant for the teased or the tormentor. Louis Slobodkin, illustrator of the 1944 Caldecott Medalist Many Moons, brings his wispy, evocative, color-washed sketches to Eleanor Estes's time-proven classic about kindness, compassion, and standing up for what's right. (Ages 6 and older) --Karin Snelson -This was a really great reading of a very old story. I found myself completely engaged, without needing pictures, which was the reason the original book won the Caldecott. I almost liked that I could not see pictures, because I imagined, as Wanda did, what the dresses would look like. I was also shocked that this book was published in 1944. This is a story that could be read and applied to modern day. I actually think that I might read this story to my first graders. There is such a pressure to dress a certain way because of television shows like those on Disney channel. Kids as young as 5 or 6 are feeling this pressure, which (I have seen first hand), can cause people to act in ways that are mean. I think this book could spark great conversation with my students and older. I still have not seen the illustrations in the original book, but I look forward to it and think it will add something for my younger students. However, for my older students, the voice was so great on this recording, that I did not miss illustrations.
This is a classic book to read with a group of young girls to discuss bullying. In this book, Wanda wears the same blue dress to school everyday, but tells her classmates that she has one hundred dresses hanging in her closet at home. This results in endless bullying by the female classmates in her class. Only one student, Maddie, feels sad inside and thinks about the consequences of her actions and how Wanda must feel. When Wanda never returns to school again, Maddie feels terrible. Wanda ends up transferring schools because of the bullying, but not before winning an art contest in which she drew 100 intricate dresses. The girls realize the consequences of their actions, and spend much of their time trying to find Wanda and make it up to her. I am looking forward to reading this book aloud to my 3rd grade girls. So much time is spent worrying about who wears what and who has the best of this and the best of that. Bullying seems to be a growing problem in schools across the nation, and I think this book could really help students think critically about their actions. I especially liked how the character, Maddie, wasn't the primary bully, but she didn't stop her best friend from bullying even when she knew deep down it was wrong. This is an important aspect of bullying that needs to be addressed.
What do You think about The Hundred Dresses (2004)?
This book has remained in my memory because it speaks to many of the issues that children deal with today. The main character wears the same outfit everyday, and yet claims to have a hundred. Due to her claim of having a hundred dresses, the students ridcule her. Sadly, the students merely see the physical,where as the main character sees beyond the physical. Though in the physical she was not attired with the hundred dresses,in her imagination and drawings she was and that was sufficient for her. One needs to look beyond the physical when the physical IS empty; for in the imagination there is a wealth of things.
—Ruth
Soon after starting at a new school, Wanda becomes the focus of a daily taunting by the other girls. Wanda wears the same—albeit clean and pressed—blue dress to school every day and, on top of that, the kids think that she has a strange last name: “Petronski.” On the way to school one day, Wanda feels less shy than normal and whispers to Peggy, the prettiest and most popular girl in class, that she has one hundred dresses at home in her closet. Clearly, she’s not telling the truth, but Peggy doesn’t let the subject drop; instead, she asks Wanda every single day thereafter how many dresses she has…and Wanda always answers the same way. Following her answer, the girls laugh and then ignore her.Peggy’s best friend Maddie doesn’t like how the girls follow Peggy’s lead and make fun of Wanda. Maddie knows that she should say something to Peggy about stopping the teasing, but Maddie is afraid that Peggy will start making fun of her instead!When Wanda and her family suddenly move away, Maddie feels awful that she never had a chance to apologize to her and must deal with her feelings of guilt and shame over her behavior.This is a quick read that will leave the reader thinking long after the story ends. It takes place in the 1940s, although there is no mention of the war. For readers seeking a sweet story about friendship and acceptance, recommend this.
—Sarah
This such a lovely short story! I liked it. It has mysterious interesting sad 'n happy moments! When a book can make me picturing the scenes, I can call it a book! 'N this book made it to me! It is such a reminder moral story. To be honest, when I came to the end, I felt happy with watering eyes 'n a happy smile! But then, with that last ending paragraph, I was like "what?!!!!!" O.o "Is she playing with us?!" "Is she a little crazy girl?!" OMG! Then I thought it is a horror book... Lool! I really ended up laughing!!!! Hahahahahahaha
—Monirah B.
