The Hundred Dresses

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.

Shiloh

Author: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Title: Shiloh

Illustrator: Eliza Green

Genre: Fiction

Subgenre: Realistic

Theme: struggle against man

Primary Characters: Marty Preston

Secondary characters: Judd Travers

Awards: John Newberry Medal

Date of publication: 1991

Publishing company: Atheneum Books for Young Readers

Summary: This classic book, still one of my favorites, is such a good read to sit cozy by the fire and read.  It seems every time I read it, I find something new I never noticed before.  This is a story of an eleven-year old boy named Marty Preston and his love for Shiloh, a dog he stumbled across one day that fell in love with him.  This story gets tricky when Marty realizes that his new best friend Shiloh belongs to a mean man named Judd Travers who mistreats all his dogs.  As the story goes along, Marty is put to the challenge several times to stand up to Judd Travers and fight for the life of the dog he loves.

Use with students:  If I were teaching upper elementary or middle school aged children, this would be a wonderful chapter book for us to read together as a class.  I would check the students for comprehension along the way and also get their input of the story and what they might do if they were in Marty’s situation.  At the end of this unit, we could end by watching the movie in class and comparing how they two were different. 

Sarah, Plain and Tall

Author: Patricia MacLachlan
Title: Sarah, Plain and Tall
Illustrator: None
Genre: Fiction
Sub genre: Historical
Theme:  love, loss, abandonment
Primary Characters: Sarah
Secondary Characters: Caleb, Anna, the farmer
Awards: Newbery Medal
Date of Publication: 2001
Publishing Company: Houghton Mifflin
Summary: Caleb and Anna's mother died while giving birth to Caleb, so Caleb has never met his mother.  Their father, Papa, tells the children he has received word from an ad he had placed in the paper for a mother for the children.  Papa tells Caleb and Anna about Sarah from Maine.  She arrives by train, bringing each child a gift from her home, the sea, which she misses very much.  Sarah quickly becomes part of the family.  They share many memories together.  Sarah shows interest in wanting to learn to drive the wagon in order to get into town.  This worries everyone because they think she will catch a train home if she makes it into town.  Papa and the children worry all day if Sarah will return.  She finally returns in the late afternoon, assuring them that even though she misses home, she would indeed miss them more.
Use with students:  This book should be used with late third graders or to fourth graders.  There are many ways that this book can be implimented into the classroom.  First, the students could write summaries on each chapter once they have read it.  Also, this book could lead to a friendly letter, like the characters in the story wrote.