The Hundred Dresses

paperback, 96 pages

English language

Published Sept. 1, 2004 by HMH Books for Young Readers.

ISBN:
978-0-15-205260-7
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4 stars (7 reviews)

WANDA wears the same faded blue dress to school every day—yet she says she has one hundred beautiful dresses at home, "all lined up." The other girls don't believe it, and when Peggy starts a daily game of teasing Wanda about the hundred dresses, everyone joins in. Maddie, Peggy's best friend, goes along with the game, but she secretly wonders whether she can find the courage to speak up in Wanda's defense.

It's not until Wanda fails to come to school one day that her classmates learn the truth about the hundred dresses—and Maddie and Peggy learn the meaning of kindness and generosity of spirit.

ELEANOR ESTES'S heartfelt story, a Newbery Honor Book and a beloved classic for more than sixty years, offers readers of all ages a timeless message of compassion and understanding. --back cover

3 editions

Beautifully illustrated.

3 stars

This book is gorgeous. The illustrations are pencil sketches without a lot of definition. They utilise colour in ways to make it stand out, which makes them more interesting. Seriously, they're gorgeous.

The main theme of the book deals with bullying someone for being different (culture, class). The book focuses on the bullied who is the daughter of a Polish immigrant (it's not clear whether she's an immigrant herself), a bysander, and a bully. In order to better protect his children, the father removes the kids from the school and goes to a big city believing it to be more diverse and easier for his children to fit into without being called slurs and having their name made fun of.

A few issues I have with this is that the only person who really learns anything is the bystander. The bully doesn't really seem to learn a lesson and acts …