The Hundred Dresses

This Newbery Honor classic, illustrated by a Caldecott Medalist, is a beautifully written tribute to the power of kindness, acceptance, and standing up for what's right. Wanda Petronski is ridiculed by her classmates for wearing the same faded blue dress every day. She claims she has one hundred dresses at home, but everyone knows she doesn’t. When Wanda is pulled out of school one day, the class feels terrible, and classmate Maddie decides that she is "never going to stand by and say nothing again." A timeless, gentle tale about bullies, bystanders, and having the courage to speak up.

Wanda Petronski hasn't been to school in a few days, but no one has really noticed. After all, she's quiet and strange and even possibly delusional (how could she even think that anyone would believe she has 100 dresses in her closet when she only ever wears the same one). But gradually it dawns on everyone that Wanda and her family are gone. The Hundred Dresses tells the story of what happens next. How gradually the girls realize how wrongly they judged Wanda and about how sometimes there are things you can never take back. It's a story that is just as relevant now as it was in the 1940s.

What is really remarkable about the book though is just how well it's aged. I first read the book in a Dallas elementary school in the 1990s, and show more since there aren't a lot of Poles there was unfamiliar with anti-Polish xenophobia, but Wanda's father's letter about how in the city "no one holler Pollack" has stuck with me these 20+ years long after I forgot the rest of the book. It's an honest explanation of how peer pressure and bullying happen and deserves a place on every child's bookshelf (although girls will probably appreciate it more than boys). Highly, highly recommended. show less

Originally published in 1944 and chosen as a Newbery Honor Book in 1945, this slim children's novel - only eighty pages - follows the story of Maddie, a young Connecticut schoolgirl who realizes, too late, that she has been unkind to one of her fellow pupils. Led by Peggy, Maddie's best friend and the most popular girl in school, the students ridicule new girl Wanda Petronski, whose 'odd' name, foreign accent, and poverty make her a target. Most of all, though, the girls ridicule for her claim - clearly false - that she possess one hundred beautiful dresses. It is only when Wanda wins the class drawing contest, for her one hundred pictures of various beautiful dresses, that Maddie and Peggy realize what Wanda was talking about. show more Unfortunately, Wanda's family has left town, seeking a more tolerant home in the big city, where their differences will cause less comment. Will Maddie ever be able to atone for her participation in the bullying of Wanda, and if not, how will she cope with her regret...?

A sweet story, one which is, according the the foreword written by the author's daughter, Helena Estes, based upon an episode from Eleanor Estes' own childhood, The Hundred Dresses offers a poignant examination of schoolyard bullying and belonging, of immigration and intolerance, and of the regret that comes with realizing the hurt caused by one's own wrongdoing too late to really atone. Wanda is misunderstood by her peers, and her desire to join the group, to share their love of beautiful dresses, leads her to try to share a private part of her life - the drawings which must have been a great comfort to her in her drab home in poverty-stricken Boggins Heights - only to meet with disbelief and ridicule. I found myself moved by the story here, but not quite as much as I expected to be, given its longstanding popularity, and its theme. Somehow I thought I would be close to crying, as I was reading Jacqueline Woodson's recent picture-book, Each Kindness, which covers much of the same territory as Estes' book. But while I enjoyed the story, appreciated the message, and found the artwork by Louis Slobodkin - winner of the 1944 Caldecott Medal for James Thurber's Many Moons - appealing, I wasn't as moved emotionally as I thought I would be. Still, this is a classic for a reason, and I do recommend it to anyone looking for children's stories about bullying, immigrants, prejudice, and living with regret. show less

The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes was originally published in 1944, and stands the test of time as it is still pertinent today. This children’s book, with illustrations by Louis Slobodkin tells of a young immigrant Polish girl named Wanda Petronski who arrives at school every day wearing the same dress. She is ridiculed over this and one day she claims that she has 100 dresses at home in her closet. This statement causes Wanda to become even more of an outsider as she is constantly teased about these dresses. When the much anticipated drawing contest winner is declared to be Wanda with her entry of beautiful drawings of 100 dresses the class looks to congratulate her, but she isn’t there to accept her prize as her family has show more moved to the city in the hopes of fitting in there.

One of Wanda’s classmates, Maddie, had always been uncomfortable with the teasing but felt afraid to say anything in case her classmates turned on her. Feeling bad and disappointed in herself because she didn’t support Wanda, she now vows to never stand aside and watch someone being bullied again.

This small book packs a big punch with it’s sensitively handled message about how hurtful heedless intolerance can be, and how bowing to peer pressure can lead to regrets and missed opportunities. show less

This magnificently illustrated more-than-a-picture book manages to squeeze a story of cruelty, exclusion, talent, guilt, and empathy into 81-odd pages. Slobodkin's colored pencil illustrations are amazing, blurred yet clear, with color bringing out important scenes and details.

Maddie and Peggy, and the other girls tease Wanda because of her Polish last name, the one dress she wears every day, and the fact that she lives out of town. She stands up for herself, claiming to have 100 dresses at home. Maddie always feels nervous, as she too is poor and the cruelty bothers her--but she also fears losing her social standing as popular girl Peggy's best friend. After Wanda moves to the city, they find she did have 100 amazing dresses, drawn by show more herself. And Maddie learns that Peggy feels badly also. show less

Ok, so the story's about kid-bullying and shaming poor children, and about being a kid and becoming aware of this behavior. I'm not sure I liked the message, though, because while Maddie seemed to learn something and grow up a little bit from it, it's not at all clear that Peggy did. And both girls just kind of side stepped ever actually apologizing or even talking about things directly and somehow in the end they just made it all ok in their minds because there was a note and Magda drew their portraits in the dresses -- which feels like the whole thing was about Maddie and Peggy and the important question was whether Magda liked them after all -- and that isn't really the sort of message I'd want to send on to kids. Somehow the show more peripheral nature of Magda never seems at all resolved to me, and I didn't love that. I like clearer plot lines, clearer messages for resolving damaging behavior or circumstances. show less

Everyone reviews 100 Dresses as a story about poor, shy, Polish-American Wanda Petronski but I see 100 Dresses as being about a girl named Maddie, torn between doing the right thing and being friends with the most popular girl in school. Wanda is a central character, I agree. With her strange name and quiet ways, she is the subject of ridicule when she announces she owns 100 dresses. This is obviously a lie when she wears the same faded, and frayed blue dress to school everyday. Right away this makes her a target. Maddie's best friend Peggy attacks this lie by asking detailed questions about the fictional dresses intentionally making Wanda squirm. Meanwhile Maddie stands by, witness to the taunting but says nothing. She doesn't dare show more stand up for Wanda for fear of putting herself in Peggy's cross hairs. She understands her friendship with Peggy to be conditional. Maddie knows that the bullying is wrong but can't stand up for Wanda. In the end Wanda's father moves the family away to avoid more ridicule. While this wouldn't happen in today's society (I believe most parents would tell their child to "get over it") the bullying is as real as ever. show less