The Hundred Dresses

By Eleanor Estes and Louis Slobodkin

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jun 24, 2014
• ISBN: 9780547540450

Eleanor Estes

Eleanor Estes (1906-1988) grew up in West Haven, Connecticut, which she renamed Cranbury for her classic stories about the Moffat and Pye families. A children’s librarian for many years, she launched her writing career with the publication of The Moffats in 1941. Two of her outstanding books about the Moffats—Rufus M. and The Middle Moffat—were awarded Newbery Honors, as was her short novel The Hundred Dresses. She won the Newbery Medal for Ginger Pye.  

Book preview

Wanda is dejected and stands away from a group of girls.

Copyright

Copyright 1944 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Copyright renewed 1972 by Eleanor Estes and Louis Slobodkin

Foreword copyright © 2004 by Helena Estes

All rights reserved. For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to [e-mail] or to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016.

hmhbooks.com

Cover illustrations © 1972 by Louis Slobodkin

First published 1944

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Estes, Eleanor, 1906–

The hundred dresses/Eleanor Estes; illustrated by Louis Slobodkin. p. cm.

Newbery Honor Book, 1945.

Summary: In winning a medal she is no longer there to receive, a tight-lipped little Polish girl teaches her classmates a lesson. Includes a note from the author’s daughter, Helena Estes.

[1. Polish Americans—Fiction. 2. Friendship—Fiction.]

I. Slobodkin, Louis, 1903– ill. II. Title.

PZ7.E749Hu 2004 [Fic]—dc22 2003057037

ISBN 978-0-15-205170-9 hardcover

ISBN 978-0-15-205260-7 paperback

eISBN 978-0-547-54045-0 v3.1119

Wanda stands in a sunny place and leans on the wall of a school building.

A Letter to Readers

When I am asked about my mother’s book The Hundred Dresses, I often wonder what to say. What more meaning could my words give to a book that, although written sixty years ago, continues to reach the hearts of children around the world? What answers could I give the children who still write letters of thanks and praise to my mother? Is this a true story? they ask. Did this happen to you? Well, most stories are based on both fact and fiction, and certainly this is true for The Hundred Dresses.

Years ago, I asked my mother why she had written the story. She told me about a classmate in her elementary school who had been taunted because she wore the same dress to school every day, and because her Polish name was unusual and difficult for many to pronounce. My mother was in school during World War I, and Polish names were uncommon then in the small town of West Haven, Connecticut, where my mother grew up and where the story takes place. Her classmate wore the same dress to school each day because it was the only one she had. This little girl moved away to New York City in the middle of the school year, and my mother, as sometimes happens in real life, did not have the opportunity to tell her she was sorry.

My mother never forgot the little girl who had been so badly treated. She herself knew what it was like to be poor as a child, to always be

Reviews for The Hundred Dresses

[Sarah Wannell · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Rather sad really. What is the message here? It’s ok to pick on the immigrant;they will love you despite your cruel treatment? No. I don’t like the premise. These girls, Peggy and Maddie, needed to learn a bit more from this experience.

[jennybeast · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

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 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.

[jenarbucci · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book had a nice moral story. As I was reading it I noticed it was a bit old fashioned. I'm not sure if kids nowadays would quite understand it the way older folks do. It was very wholesome.

[librisissimo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I don't have much to add to the online reviews and blurbs. It was an excellent story about childhood and ethical awakening, without being religous-based or preachy.The Depression time period of the author's youth (1920s) might make it uninteresting to some young readers, but a lot of them can deasily accept the situation and apply it to their own circumstances.Most real-life analogues don't have the happy ending of the book, but it is necessary and plausible.The "mean girls" reminded me of the ones who harassed Laura Ingalls in her "Little House" novels.Personal note: when I was in elementary school in the 1950s, my best friend -- a farm girl -- often drew fashion dresses, using the ubiquitous sewing pattern books and couture magazines as models. I can easily imagine her tacking these onto her closet walls (rather than keeping them in file folders and notebooks as she did), but she certainly had more than one dress to wear to school, and was always fashionably clothed to the limit of the stores in small-town Texas.

[marquis784-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I came across this book while rummaging up “treasures” for my daughter to read. Although the book is old and a bit musty it brought back so many memories. I remember being so excited when the Scholastic Books flyer was distributed. It was like Christmas was they arrived each month! Some books really survive the passage of time with messages than transcend generations.

[kodonnell-440231 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a story about a girl who is bullied for being different from her classmates, and how she proves herself and shows her talent through art. It would be a good book for any classroom during bullying awareness weeks, to teach your students that bullying is never the answer. Too often we ignore the fact that everyone has a life, a story, that we will never fully know. This book is a beautiful reminder of that.

[dreesie-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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 herself. And Maddie learns that Peggy feels badly also.

[karenzea · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a book that pulls at your heart strings. Girls can be mean to each other. This girl learns that you can't judge a girl by her cover. Every young girl should be required to read this book.

[brittburditt · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In the book, a young Polish girl is bullied in school after moving to Connecticut because she is constantly wearing only one dress. The other girls in her class mock her because of this and the fact that she has a funny last name. The Polish girl, Wanda, tells the other girls that she actually has one hundred dresses at home, which almost makes her get bullied more. After Wanda and her family move away, after winning a drawing contest at school, because she was bullied so much, the school receives a letter explaining why Wanda and her family moved. The girls learned that Wanda moved because people were being so unkind to her, and unfortunately they did not have a chance to apologize and ask for forgiveness. This book is written in a simple way that readers from all ages are able to understand. The message in the story is still veery relevant today, that it is not nice to bully people because of what they wear and that you cannot wait to apologize and make things right after it is too late.

[lnl-7 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Jolie histoire llustrée qui permet aux jeunes adolescents de réfléchir à leur comportement envers leurs camarades. On reste toutefois un peu sur notre fin quant à l'orgine des 100 robes mais cela aiguise notre imagination!

[bookwyrmm_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A timeless tale about bullying and guilt, but I do wish the end was different.

[lissabeth21 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Beautifully told. I enjoyed the portrayal of the nice girls as the bullies and I wonder how many nice kids tease others without realizing how much their words effect others.

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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 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.

[abigailadams26 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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. 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.

[alaina.loescher · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really liked the way that this book paints the picture of a school bullying situation in a way that shows the complexities of each role, the perpetrator, the victim and the bystander. I love that parallels are drawn between both the bystander and the perpetrator as well as the bystander and the victim to show that each of these roles is complex in nature. Also, for Maddie the bystander, her friend's bullying of Wanda weighs heavily on her conscience as she recognizes and is troubles by these parallels. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I think it could be a really great read for upper elementary school kids, especially girls, in order to have them think about the ways their actions effect others prior to entering middle school. I also enjoyed the illustrations and the fact that, within these illustrations, all of the characters are kept faceless to show that anyone can be in any of the roles portrayed.

[emaloney5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This Newberry Honor book was first published in 1944 it's timeless themes bring light to the guilt and harm that occurs when making judgements on others. It is a book perfect for creating an anti -bullying identity safe classroom that both boys as well as girls will come to love in intermediate grades.

[karra.mcds · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This book is about a girl named Wanda who wishes she was wealthier than the other girls. This takes place most of the time at school where Wanda goes to school. In the begging Maddie and Peggy and other kids pick on her. They tease her and Wanda says she has a hundred dresses. Wanda leaves and Maddie and Peggy try to make her come back and be nice. I did not like this book because Wanda never came back and it did not have a great story. I would recommend you to not read this book because it also was not very exiting from my point of view.

[nataliecjones · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is realistic fiction. It is about a girl that claims she has 100 dresses. None of the other girls believe her though, because she appears to be very poor. They make fun of her for it, ann asks her about it every day. The girl never complains and just takes it. There is an art contest about designing dresses, and the girl submits 100 drawings of dresses. She wins! Everyone is surprised. But before they can tell her that she won, she moves away. So they mail her a letter and tell her that she won. She writes back and says that some of the dress drawings are for certain people. It ends up being drawings of all of the girls that bullied her. They are humbled by this and learn a lesson.

[mmeharvey-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Although some of the language in this book is somewhat dated the story itself is timeless. A young girl is bullied by her classmates and is believed to be telling fibs about her hundred dresses. As it turns out she delivers on her claim of having a hundred dresses in an unexpected way. Through this experience students learn about kindness and acceptance. This is a classic tale and one I will read with my grade 2 group of advance readers as an enrichment activity. Adrienne Gear also recommends this book for grade 2-3 readers.

[jrsearcher · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Read this as a kid and wanted to remember the story. MY memory was Wanda's closet was large enough to hold 100 dresses...

I liked the lesson the book teaches and can understand how Maddie felt as she did about not wanting to bring attention to herself.

[empress8411 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Considering the current buzz about bullying, one might think it is a current issue. Estes' book shows that it is not. Written in 1945, from the perspective of the flunky of the bully, it is a powerful tale about speaking up for others and not being silent. This is a worthwhile book to read to children (and frankly, I know adults who could benefit from this lesson as well). Highly recommend.

[tesia.rose3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wanda Petoski is a weird little girl who says she has 100 dresses all lined up in her closet. soon every on learns tat she really does have one hundred dresses all lined up in her closet. Wanda submits her dresses for the art contest because they where pictures.

[lizegarber · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is fantastic. It is about a young polish girl, Wanda whose family is very poor so she wear the same dress everyday to school, but says she has a hundred dresses at home because of this the other girls make fun of her. The story goes on to show the regret of one of the girls who had teased Wanda, after Wanda moves away. I think that in the right setting this book can be used to approach the subject of bullying and standing up for other people. A class discussion on the topic could easily begin after a read aloud and I think it would be especially good for young girls. Also, an art project can come from this book, something along the lines of "a hundred... dresses, cats, hats, etc." Something that allows students to create and design! This was a great book that really had an insightful and meaningful message.

[kryoung1-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Hundred Dresses was a touching story about a girl that wears the same dress to school everyday, but claims to have a hundred different ones in her closet at home. The story follows how she is teased by the girls at school and one girl begins to regret it. I really enjoyed this book and the interesting plot twist at the end.

[casabooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Decided to read some "kids" books/young adult this year.
Read as much as I could in grade school, but don't think there were as many books or as many lists to choose from in those days. Missed too many, so it's time to catch up a bit.
This book is so hauntingly current for today. Not overly wrought, but one that doesn't leave you and can be put into so many young and adult situations.
There's a play - not sure where I can find it - would like to.

[turrean_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A quiet, unassuming little story that packs a powerful emotional punch. Both the storytelling and Slobodkin's illustrations are absolutely lovely

[brittanybarnes-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Such a great story for elementary or middle school girls. I remembered this book from my childhood and have read it to many students. I think it teaches a great lesson!

[sylviasmile · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great, character-building tale about prejudice and bullying--yet artfully done, with gorgeous watercolor illustrations by Louis Slobodkin. I would recommend it to ages 8-11.

[kerry5wood · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The hundred dresses, written post-WWII (1944), is a wonderful story about school age children, bullying, and being bullied and how one copes with the situation. This story also addresses the saying "Don't judge a book by its cover." I highly recommend this book to all children as well as adults to share with their children. Although a book written over 70 years ago, this book is a timeless classic.

[kellylpickett · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A young girl named Wanda is a little different from the other girls in her class. She comes to school everyday in the same dress and has a funny sounding name. One day, after the girls were talking about the pretty new dress one of them is wearing, Wanda tells Peggy (a popular girl) that she has 100 dresses at home, all lined up in her closet. Of corse none of the girls believe her because they have only seen her wear the one. Peggy, as well as the other girls in class, finds this so hilarious, that she makes agame out of it... Asking Wanda everyday about her 100 dresses. But Peggy's best friend Maddie does not feel the same. She feels sorry for Wanda, but is too afraid to speak up for fear of being made fun of herself. favorites. Written as a chapter book it is perfect for readers beginning in 2nd grade. It talks about the serious effects of bullying and how doing nothing is just as bad of being the one who is being the bully. It also talks about the fact that we should never judge those we do not understand, but should get to know them even though they are different from us.