The Hundred Dresses

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A quick rundown of this product’s key features:

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.

Our Top Reviews

Reviewer: HNFT
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: The Hundred Dresses
Review: A great lesson to share with children. A quick and easy read for even the youngest of listeners. My five year old enjoyed it (as did I).

Reviewer: HeatherHH
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Wonderful and powerful writing, timeless message
Review: This story is about Maddie, a poor girl who happens to be friends with Peggy, the most popular girl in school. Maddie is very insecure because of her poverty. When her friend Peggy begins teasing Wanda, a new girl with a funny last name who always wears the same dress to school, Maddie joins in. She knows it’s wrong, but Maddie is too afraid of losing Peggy’s friendship and having the girls turn on her. Then one day, the class learns that those hundred dresses Wanda claimed to have were beautiful drawings of dresses. Moved to apologize, Maddie and Peggy find that Wanda has moved away, and they learn from her father’s letter to the teacher that it is because his children were being made fun of. Too late to make amends, Maddie regrets deeply her part in making Wanda unhappy, and vows never to stand by again while someone is being picked on.The moral lesson of this story is obvious. What isn’t necessarily obvious from my summary is that the story is written in an incredibly moving manner. Maddie’s thought processes are revealed to us, and most who are honest will be able to understand her hesitance to speak up. And, we can grieve with her as she realizes that she cannot make amends for her wrong. This is a very powerful and evocative story. I read it to my three oldest children (ages 9, 7, and 5) who were able to grasp the message and to sympathize both with Wanda and Maddie.It’s 96 pages, but with large print and many illustrations (which honestly weren’t my style), it’s a pretty quick read. It could be read in one long sitting, but I chose to spread it out over three days to give me more time to discuss it with my children.I would highly recommend this book for any child. It’s a classic that has endured for years because of its quality writing and its timeless message.

Reviewer: Children’s Lit Love
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Deeply touching story of standing up for what’s right
Review: Written in 1944 and winner of a Newbery Honor Medal, The Hundred Dresses has stood the test of time. Inspired by a true story from the author’s childhood, this is the story of three girls in the same class at school. Wanda wears the same old dress to school every single day, but claims to have a closet full of 100 beautiful dresses at home. Peggy and Maddie are best friends; Peggy lets it be known that she doesn’t believe Wanda has those dresses, and Maddie struggles with wanting to go along with Peggy but also wanting to stand up for Wanda. There is so much beauty and insight in this story, leading to so many possibilities of conversations about right and wrong, standing up for others, kindness, and generosity. This is a chapter book, but it’s a quick read with illustrations. When I was in the classroom, I used to read Thank You, Mr. Falker on the first day of school, and then I’d start The Hundred Dresses on the second day of school. I’ll be reading it with my older daughter in a few weeks, before she starts school, and I intend to revisit it with her (and eventually with our younger daughter, too) every summer before school starts. It’s just that thought-provoking. Recommended for ages 6-9, but could definitely be used with older audiences.

Reviewer: Alymommydarling
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A good story
Review: I read this as a read aloud with my kids and they really enjoyed the story. It is definitely a more grown story geared towards idk i would say 7 years and up. The Hundred Dresses tells a story about bullying, regret and friends. Wanda Petronski being the main talk of the book, alongside Maggie and Peggy.I liked that the story teaches kids about having the courage to stand up and defend those who are mistreated but I would have liked the ending to be more thoroughly explored. They kind of just glossed over the fact that Peggy was a big time bully. It did make it to where i could explain to my kids to be more like Maddie and not lie Peggy.We loved the illustrations.

Reviewer: from jenna’s desk
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A good book club choice!
Review: We read this book for our mother/daughter book club and all of us, moms and daughters, enjoyed it a great deal. It gave us lots to talk about in our discussion. It’s the story of Wanda, a Polish immigrant. Her name is different, and she doesn’t wear pretty dresses like the other girls at school. In fact, she wears the same old dress over and over again. Wanda wants desperately to fit in and to be liked by the rest of the girls. Peggy, a popular, fun-loving girl, enjoys taunting Wanda by not only making fun of her name, but by saying, “How many dresses do you have, Wanda?”, and Wanda replies, “I have one hundred dresses hanging in my closet.” Peggy, and her friend Maddie, who is more soft-spoken and who has secrets of her own, naturally don’t believe her; if she had one hundred dresses, why doesn’t she ever wear them? They set out to discover the truth. This is a story that deals with tolerance, accepting differences, as well as discovering things about your own self. It teaches a valuable lesson. Eleanor Estes is one of our favorite authors, as we have read and re-read the Moffats series as well as Ginger Pye and Pinky Pie. While The Hundred Dresses is a different kind of story, the witty and sensitive writing and magnificent storytelling is the same. We highly recommend it.

Reviewer: Kindle Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Cute children’s book
Review: This is a cute children’s book and an easier read for ages 6-8. I ordered 3 and we had a book club with some of my daughter’s friends. They enjoyed their book club and enjoyed talking about friendships and their importance. Would recommend.

Reviewer: Alyssa V.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Amazing lesson for all ages
Review: This was the perfect read-aloud book for my girls who were learning about the power of their words and bullying. We had been focusing on that all week and this book helped them learn that not only do we need realize our words have power, but so does our silence. Definitely recommend for any age kids! An easy read that provokes A LOT of good conversations

Reviewer: Lynne
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good Story
Review: Enjoyed this book, look forward to reading it to my grandkids.

Reviewer: nickromahome
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: The book teaches children that to be silent is just as harmful, if not worse, than the person creating conflict on others. The book can be read in 1-2 sittings. The story telling is unique as it explores the different thoughts of the characters in the book. I may need to read again for my 6 year old daughter to comprehend the story, but my 8 year old understood it and hopefully learned something from it. I do think it’s a book to come back and read again to get the powerful message across. My kids did enjoy that there were a few illustrations in the book.

Reviewer: Gwen Rowe
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I got this because I don’t have access to my physical book. I like it as a quick read aloud in class and to foster discussion on bullying and bystanders.

Reviewer: MT
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Mobbing and discrimination are, unfortunately, an ever-occurring, never-ending issue in practically all aspects of society. Particularly children are often the recipients, but also the providers of such hurtful acts, and especially schools are the stage for this form of intolerance.The author tells the story that she experienced in her own childhood, observing a foreign girl being subjected to this behavior, and how it affected her own character and feeling of guilt.I highly recommend this book to anyone, in particular for school-classes.

Reviewer: Eliza
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Foi presente

Reviewer: Ryo Saeba
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Demandé par l’école pour l’année scolaire. Rien a dire.

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