The Hundred Dresses Reviews

• Written in 1944 But Still A Common Tale Everywhere

  
  By A3R2M6DGECQOO on 2002-03-06
  This sensitive story was written in 1944 and due to "human nature" things haven't changed one iota since then. It is the tale of one poor immigrant girl's way of coping with her poverty and the constant teasing she gets from other little girls at her school. The other girls are very materialistic and judge others by their clothing. It's not a pretty picture. The story is thoughtful and doesn't make the in-crowd clique of girls seem awful, only immature and insensitive. One of the girls even feels pretty bad about the teasing and harassing of the little Polish girl, but she doesn't come forward because she doesn't want to lose her own social standing. What I love about this book the most is that it is a wonderful opportunity for adults to talk with children about the insidious damage caused by teasing and singling others out. Let's face it most adults haven't really grown out of that way of behaving. Keep your ears open in a corporate lunch room some time. If we hope to make this a better world we need more books like this one and we need to actively teach our kids a better more loving way of being. We also need to help them stand up for their own gut-feelings of right and wrong instead of teaching them to go along with the status quo as we so often do by our own examples. The simple, straight-forward text and the beautiful, evocative yet simple illustrations make this story accessible and unforgettable. It can help you bring up an important topic and discuss it with your children. I recommend it for every parent and every teacher.
  
  

• Another children's book that made me cry

  
  By A3KV4RQE2FVIZ0 on 2004-11-26
  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.
  
  

• It was fun to read!

  
  By on 1999-10-29
  The Hundred Dresses is about a girl named Wanda Protronski. Wanda is poor and has no mother. She lives up on Boggins Heights. Some girls make fun of her. The name of the mean girl that teases Wanda is Peggy. Peggy is pretty, neat, and very popular. Her best friend is Maddie. Maddie is messy, poor, and sort of popular. Almost all of her clothes are hand-me-down. Classroom 13 has a drawing contest and Wanda wins. Everyone thought that Peggy was going to win. Wanda leaves town and moves to the city. Peggy and Maddie try to get her to come back. This took place at the school's playground, classroom 13, and in Boggins Heights. I thought this was a wonderful book because it tells why you should be nice to people and not tease them. I recommend this book for 3rd-5th graders because it is a little to hard for lower grades and too easy for higher grades.
  
  

• A coming-of-age story

  
  By A1N5TDIEX1A7BJ on 2004-01-10
  I first read this book as a girl more than 40 years ago, and I still love it.

  I've noticed something about this book that many reviews (and many of the lesson plans I've read) seem to miss, and I think it's an important point: This isn't the story of Wanda Petronski. It's the story of Maddie, an ordinary person who quietly assents to evil and then must live with her conscience. It's very tough stuff for young readers (and older ones), both deep and dark. I remember my own daughters finding it to be rough going emotionally, because Maddie's epiphany comes when the possibility of redemption is past, leaving her only with regret. This is unusual in children's fiction (and adults'), where the norm is for the central character--the character with whom the reader identifies--to be granted a second chance to make the compassionate choice. Estes quite deliberately, and, I think, properly, gave the book a real-life ending, where understanding occurs after the moment of truth has irretrievably gone by, and we realize that the next step, the step that occurs after the end of the story, is for the character and, by extension, the reader, to decide how to live her life from that point on.

  Wanda is not, as far as we know, a Jew, but this is nevertheless a Holocaust story, as well as a Civil Rights story, a story about tolerance and compassion but also a story about how evil flourishes when people of good will do not speak out.

  Estes is kind enough to her characters to allow Wanda the spirit and determination to rise above the rejection of her classmates, and to allow her to gracefully (but incorrectly) attribute the best of motives to Maddie and Peggy. In a way, though, her nobility makes Maddie's enlightenment even more bitter. Somehow, having our victims respond badly to our victimizing lets us off the hook: "She was a nasty person anyway." (I'll have to admit, part of me has always wondered if Wanda was being disingenuous or sarcastic in her final note. Was she deliberately putting the screws on Maddie and Peggy?)

  This book is extraordinarily and deceptively powerful, with its combination of quiet tone, enchanting pictures, and hard-hitting (but not overbearing) message. Girls will be particularly intrigued and inspired by the dresses themselves; the idea is compelling, and many will want to draw their own dresses. Most children will, I think, want to focus on that aspect of the story, rather than on Maddie's learning experience. The dresses are so liberating, both for Wanda and for the child's imagination, that parents and teachers will want to encourage young readers to rejoice in that aspect of the story, even as they guide them through the sad and difficult emotional concepts presented in this lovely, but heartrending, book.
  
  

• Enduring, compelling, hopeful

  
  By A2710EQTQQFVDG on 2005-04-09
  I haven't read this book since I was in the second grade myself, but I remember it well. The girl with only one dress was very much like me at the time. The book portrays her with dignity-- she maintains that she does indeed have one hundred dresses and does not let her teasers take away the comfort of her own imagination. When she disappears from school, and Maddie and Peggy go to her empty home, they find the hundred dresses-- carefully drawn sketches in colored pencil on scraps of paper. As others have mentioned, this book will allow children to see the pain that is caused by teasing. But it also provides comfort, I believe, to children who are the "different" ones. Wanda is not a victim, but instead leaves for each of her teasers a gift of peace-- thier picture sketched faintly inside two of the dresses. Wanda humbles them with the beauty of her own humanity-- beauty that transcends poverty and discrimination.
  
  
• Wanda Petronski's Success Story
  By A7NRL3R5C0AL4 on 2004-06-17
  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.
  
  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.
  
  
• What bittersweet memories this book brings to mind
  By A1H24TI8F5I5AW on 2000-07-31
  I am an American born Chinese who grew up wearing second hand clothes in an all white affluent neighborhood. That was over 30 years ago and I can still remember the stinging isolation and teasing. After reading this book in third grade, I recall so clearly my heart melting, and crying so strongly for struggling proud Wanda. Last month I read this book to my six year old daughter and we had a long tender talk about how important it is to not judge people for what's on the outside. This story was written around the time of World War II, and I can only imagine that Eleanor Estes was an incredible insightful marvelous soul. I think this book should be on recommended reading lists for third grades - fifth grades. It's so well written, that as an adult I've reread passages to myself in appreciation of their understated eloquence.
  
  
• You can get a good idea about the book.
  By on 1999-11-04
  If you enjoy a story about how a little girl uses her im agination to over come her limited wordrobe of one dress you will like this book. The main character is young Wanda, a child who has a big imagination about her wordrobe. She is teased by her classmates in room 13 about her dresses How Wanda handles her prolem is a good reson to read this book. I enjoyed rading it and I think you will too.
  
  
• HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF YOU WERE TEASED?????
  By on 1999-10-29
  If you like reading books where kids are teasing kids with funny names, then you would like this book. The name of the characters are Maddie, Wonda, and Peggy. And the other character is Old Man Svenson. Wonda is the girl that is always being teased. Peggy is the girl that is most liked in the class. Maddie is the girl that is Peggy's best friend. Old Man Svenson neve says anything at all to anybody in the story. I think Wonda should stick up for herself and say something about Peggy's friends teasing her. If Peggy is the most liked girl in class, she should set an example by not teasing kids when other kids are being teased. Maddie is the girl that sticks up for one another but doesn't have the guts to say, "Stop teasing them." Old Man Svenson is the quiet guy that doesn't say anything at all throughout the story and he also has a dog that usually sits on the front portch and barks when someone comes up on Boggin Heights. If you read this book, you will understand that teasing people is not really a good thing because you are supposed to respect one another.
  
  
• Roxanne
  By A16SLN8OIIK78B on 2000-08-25
  I read this book in grade school, and then saw it again in the library, now some 25 years later. I read it through right then and there, and it brought tears to my eyes. The cruelty that children can sometimes wage upon eachother is the same now as it was back when this book was first written in the 1940s. I wonder why books like this are not required reading. It seems that most of the truly great children's books I read, I picked up on my own, and not via the classroom or my teachers.
  
  
• After 25 years, reunited with an old friend.
  By ABH8RRUCHE5KT on 2001-09-16
  The other day, I was thinking about this book. Truly, every rainy chilly day (especially days I cross railroad tracks), I would remember this book that I had read over and over. What a delight to discover it again after countless garage sales and moves had separated us. I had never felt sorry for Wanda, though I knew what it was like to be teased, because I knew she had created something wonderful. A story that can live in a child's mind, growing into a powerful memory over the course of 25 years is beyond special. This book should be shared with as many children as possible.
  
  
• It was GREAT!
  By on 1999-10-27
  The story of The Hundred Dresses is about a girl named Wanda Petronski. She lived up on a hill called Boggins Heights. The story is about people teasing Wanda by asking her how many dresses she had and she would say, "I have a hundred dresses." when she only had one fadded blue dress. One day her dad pulls her out of class and decides that they are moving to the big city where no one would tease her. I thought it was a great book. It taught me that just because someone does not have a mother and is different that doesn't mean that they can't be good at anything. I recomend this book for kids ages five to eight because it teaches kids that you shouldn't tease other kids, and treat everybody with respect.
  
  
• A sad but positive story
  By on 1999-10-29
  The story The Hundred Dresses is about a little Polish girl named Wanda Petronski. She is considered different from all the rest. There are two girls named Peggy and Maddie who started a teasing game with Wanda one day when Wanda mentioned that she had a hundred dresses and Peggy and Maddie did not believe her. And that's how this story by Eleanor Estes begins. I like this story because it was very sad and at the same time very happy. The reason it was sad was because Wanda was always teased by Peggy and Maddie. But I also thought that it was happy because it had a positive ending. I recommend this story for all ages including adults. Even though it is very predictable it is still a wonderful story. But let me warn you folks, if you don't like to cry, don't read this book!!!
  
  
• One of my favorite children's books
  By A2AKK8CBTGRTZN on 2000-10-07
  As a children's librarian, I see many children's books on a regular basis. But this one, shown to me by my mentor, remains one of my all-time favorites. It reminds us that even children's lives are not free from cruelty and of our obligation to at least try to be kind to everyone we come in contact with. And it does this without being preachy. I look forward to sharing it with my daughter when she is a little older.
  
  
• Ugly Story
  By on 2000-10-19
  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.
  
  
• Missing the Point
  By A3I0D9ZPEJ9JX4 on 2004-07-13
  (...)
  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.
  
  

• Admirable lesson, simplistic treatment
  By A940CJE4B0AJ8 on 2005-04-04
  Each year, I dig into the works of a classic children's writer. Eleanor Estes caught my attention because her novels, many published 60 years or more ago, have recently been reissued. This one has terrific illustrations by Louis Slobodkin, a huge talent in his own arena. The story here is simple, which may be obvious, but I'm fascinated by how something so basic becomes so beloved. The writer's style is skilled and serviceable, but there's nothing magical about the language (as with E.B. White). The dated material is occasionally offputting. The main characters are so thinly sketched as to be cliche. And the true payoff, the reality of the "hundred dresses," is almost thrown away. Is the childhood memory of a beloved book what makes it a classic?
  
  
• A good read for a young girl
  By A16Q1LYIDE2WDZ on 2006-10-06
  I read this when I was little and it had a serious impact on my life and the way I treated others. This is a short book meant for kids who are under 12 years old but it's equally powerful even for adults and it carries a strong message. I have met a few catty, shallow women and girls in my life (no names here) who should read this book. It has a very good lesson about kindness, not judging others and standing up for what is right.
  
  The story is about a poor girl Wanda who only has one dress. All the other girls at school have lots of pretty dresses. One day Wanda claims she owns a hundred dresses and this sets the stage for lots of cruel taunting by a group of mean girls. They keep on teasing Wanda, until one day everyone discovers something about her that will change everyone's opinion forever!
  
  I won't post any spoilers but I will say the story is a little sad but in a bittersweet sort of way. Though I was left wishing the ending had more closure, the message is still strong and I would not change the story. With any other ending I don't think the message would have been so powerful. I think kids will learn a great deal from this story, things like: Don't judge others on how they look or what they have. Be kind to people because you never know when they will be gone. Don't say anything to anyone that you may regret later. Above all, never underestemate people's talent or brains. This story is old but timeless!
  
  For any girl or woman who has ever been a victim of fashion bullying, this is a great book. It's an even better book for someone who has bullied other women/girls over what they wear.
  
  A funny thing: I recently left a copy of this book discreetly on the desk of a co-worker after she made a nasty comment to another woman (who was on a low income with kids to feed) regarding her 'ugly knockoff handbag' Funny thing is, this co-worker (who has money now but wasn't born in this country and had a poor family growing up) hasn't said a catty comment about anyone's wardrobe since! It's certainly given everyone's ears a rest because people at work had grown tired of her catty commentary. Hopefully, this book taught her a good lesson! It's bad enough little girls and teenagers have to be victims of this treatment, we as grown women should NOT tolerate it from each other! So, I urge others to do this too, if you happen to know some nasty girl/woman like this. It certainly made our place of work much happier!
  
  
  
• An classic that's endured
  By on 2000-05-30
  I still remember the tears that trickled down my face--the first I'd ever shed over a book--when I read "The Hundred Dresses" in my 4th-grade classroom in 1959. I empathized deeply with Wanda but also with her tormentor too-late-made-ashamed. A moving book, more pertinent than ever in this post-Columbine era of heightened sensitivity to the lasting damage that can be done by children's teasing of the different. And a story beautifully rendered in both words and pictures, to boot.
  
  
• The Hundred Dresses
  By on 2001-10-10
  I read this book about 40 years ago and it had such an impact on me that I still remembered Wanda Petronski's name. I just purchased it and reread it again, and it is just as good as it was then. Thank you to Eleanor Estes friends and family for supporting her in her writing.
  
  
• You've got to read this book!
  By A36HA07L5AMKQ7 on 2002-01-06
  The Hundred Dresses by Elenor Estes is a fiction story with a not very happy protagonist. The protagonist of this story is a girl named Wanda Petronski. She has a brother named Jake and a father. Some girls that tease Wanda are Peggy and Maddie. They always ask Wanda how many dresses or hats she has. She says that she has a hundred dresses all lined up in her closet all different colors. Peggy never belives that Wanda has a hundred dresses because Wanda never wears any of them. I would recommend this book to young reader because it is very interesting to see how a girl would be picked on. Also I would recommend this book to a young reader because it is a very interesting book to read.
  
  
• Every kid should read this book
  By A19WDVGZQD6MZZ on 2003-12-04
  A child is being made fun of by schoolmates. Another child stays quiet, uncomfortable with the situation. She is fearful that if she says anything, she will become a target. Eventually all the kids realize that they have acted badly, but it's too late to make restitution as the "victim" has moved away. Gives a great moral message without being preachy.
  
  
• It's a good reminder to be nice to others.
  By on 1999-10-29
  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.
  
  

• A book not just for girls, boys love it too!
  By on 1999-10-29
  This is a wonderful story about a young girl named Wanda.She gets picked on by two girls named Peggy and Maddie. Peggy is mean to Wanda all the time and teases her because Wanda says she has a hundred dresses. Maddie picks on Wanda too but starts to feel sorry for her. I think this story could teach other kids that have similar problems ways to deal with these issues.

  This book was funny, sad and taught me a lot of good lessons.
  
  

• One of the best children's clssics of all times!
  By on 1997-04-11
  Wanda, a Polish immigrant, wants nothing more than to be liked and accepted in a strange country. That's why she tells her classmates tales of her "hundred dresses, all lined up in a row in my closet." Her classmates think this is hilarious, and are frequently asking her about her hundred dresses. Only when she is gone do they realize how much damage they actually did... Though it contains a simple plot, this book is excellent, and it contains a valuable lesson for all of us.
  
  
• The most memorable book of my childhood
  By on 1997-11-08
  This book was read to me in school in the early sixties. Of all the books that were part of my childhood, and there were many, this is the one I remember most clearly and most fondly. Without being preachy or saccarine, it demonstrates the values of empathy and compassion. I was thrilled to see that it is still in print. We need it now more than ever.
  
  
• "mean girls"
  By AAXEP1XZ68YJF on 2005-02-23
  This book is ideal for a book discussion for a mother-daughter-book-club with preteen girls. Preteen, so hopefully they will not yet have experienced peer rejection, intolerance and teasing due to a lack of conformity. And just those issues are what makes this book so good for discussion.
  
  
• Great read aloud book!
  By AO6A8MC8OG1ZK on 2000-02-14
  I read this touching story to my fourth grade class at the very beginning of the school year. We discussed how we have have the ability to make someone else feel bad and how we can in the end regret the things we say and do to others. The story helped us throughout the year in certain situations where students were giving others a hard time for whatever reason. We stopped many times to discuss the outcome of their actions and referred to The Hundred Dresses in our discussions. Great lesson!
  
  
• I liked this book
  By A99AY07QLX4J9 on 2000-06-24
  This book taught about the bad feeling you get when you are mean and never get a chance to appoligize, but they finally got to appoligize and were happy! A good book for your children or to read to your children!
  
  
• Wanda Petronski lives up in Boggins Heights with no friends
  By on 1999-10-29
  Wanda Petronski lives in Boggins Heights with her father and her brother in a shabby house . Every day she wears a blue dress to school.In her class are girls that tease her about how many dresses she has.here is a girl named Peggy she is the most popular girl in school.Maddie is a girl that is friends with Peggy. They tease Wanda about her dresses.Until Wanda moves away to a big city.Then they feel bad for what they have done.I thought this story was a sweet story because the two girls Peggy and Maddie learned from their mistakes. I am in the 5th grade. I would recomend this book to anyone who likes this kind of literature because it has different literature from other books.
  
  

• A Guide for Using The Hundred Dresses in the Classroom
• The Family Under the Bridge
• My Father's Dragon
• Stone Fox
• Mr. Popper's Penguins