Author: Eleanor Estes
Title: The Hundred Dresses
Illustrator: Louis Slobodkin
Genre: Fiction
Subgenre: Realistic Fiction
Theme: struggle against person/ society
Primary Characters: Wanda Petronski
Secondary characters: Peggy and Maddie
Awards: Newberry Honor book
Date of publication: 1944; renewed in 1971
Publishing company: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc
Summary: This is a story of a girl named Wanda Petronski and her battle against the bullies Peggy and Maddie in her elementary school classroom. The girls constantly tease her about her “one hundred dresses” she has at home. When the girls make fun of her, this is what Wanda resorts to talking about. Peggy feels bad most of the time and just watches as Maddie primarily bullies Wanda. Wanda, her brother, and her father get tired of Wanda being bullied that they decide to move away. There was a contest in the classroom on who could draw the best. Before Wanda moved, she turned in one hundred beautiful drawings of her “one hundred dresses,” she won the contest and the metal was mailed to her. Peggy and Maddie felt bad for all the pain they had caused Wanda so they sent her an apology letter. I few weeks later their teacher got a letter in the mail from Wanda thanking the class for her winnings and telling them about her new home. She forgave Peggy and Maddie and said that they could each keep one of her drawings. The story comes to a close when the two girls are together and realize that the girls in the pictures who are wearing the beautiful dresses are themselves.
Use with students: In my classroom I could use this story to help teach my students about bullying and how it is important to treat others nice, even if they are not like you. I could also ask my students to draw their favorite dress or outfit, and this makes them use their creativity putting a perspective of Wanda in the story.
No comments:
Post a Comment