The Hundred Dresses

The Hundred Dresses

By Eleanor Estes

10 ratings 6 reviews 19 followers
Interest LevelReading LevelReading A-ZATOSWord Count
Grades 3 - 6Grades 2 - 6P5.47329

Eleanor Estes’s The Hundred Dresses won a Newbery Honor in 1945 and has never been out of print since. At the heart of the story is Wanda Petronski, a Polish girl in a Connecticut school who is ridiculed by her classmates for wearing the same faded blue dress every day. Wanda claims she has one hundred dresses at home, but everyone knows she doesn’t and bullies her mercilessly. The class feels terrible when Wanda is pulled out of the school, but by that time it’s too late for apologies. Maddie, one of Wanda’s classmates, ultimately decides that she is "never going to stand by and say nothing again." This powerful, timeless story has been reissued with a new letter from the author’s daughter Helena Estes, and with the Caldecott artist Louis Slobodkin’s original artwork in beautifully restored color.

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
ISBN-13: 9780152051709
ISBN-10: 0152051708
Published on 9/1/2004
Binding: Hardcover
Number of pages: 96

Book Reviews (8)

Add a Rating
SAY CHEESE! SAY CHEESE!

OMG! A very nice book. I think it's a good one to cuddle up with and read in bed. I read it in my third grade literature class, and I loved it. I don't like how mean Peggy was to Wanda. But Maddy was nice. Overall, a great book. I reccomend it to all those kids out there who cope with being poor or know someone in that situation.

Jackie S. Jackie S.

This book is absolutely fantastic.

This book is a very good and adventuring book. You should really read this. It really has a good message in the book.

I read this book in 3rd grade as a read aloud and really liked it. When you read it, there could be a lot of questions in your head and a lot of thoughts.

Warning! This review contains spoilers!There are two girls who are best friends, named Maddie and Peggy (or something). And everyday they tease this other girl named Wanda who seems to be very poor. Although she always wears the same dress, Wanda says she has a hundred dresses. Nobody believes her, so they make fun of her. Maddie doesn't like to tease Wanda (because she's poor too), but goes along with it anyway. But then something happens. What I thought of it: I can easily say that this is the stupidest book I have ever read. I mean no disrespect to the author, or anyone who liked it. I just really couldn't stand it. The writing was horrible. It was very sloppy, and unpleasant. The plot wasn't any good, and it barely made sense. The author didn't make it clear whether of not Wanda actually had a hundred dresses or not. I mean that's the only reason I even finished the book. All I wanted to know was whether or not Wanda had a hundred dresses, and I never even found out. I mean I read this book in 15 minutes and it was still a complete waste of time. Also, the author kind of just jumped from one time to another. One second it's sometime during October or a little after October, the next second it's Christmas time. The only transition was a single sentence that basically said "And then it was Christmas time". That really annoyed me. Also the characters were flat and uninteresting. There were many other flaws. Overall, it was a terrible book.

This is a life changing book that I read many times as a 4th grader. It taught me that every person has her own story and that judging a person from the outside will never help you truly know who that person is. This story will make you cry....a lot...but you will be forever glad that you read it. Even though this is a short chapter book, Eleanor Estes has some simple and lovely water color drawings in there.

This is a great book about a girl named Wanda who has a hundred dresses, or does she?

Abigail Abigail

i think this is a really good book to read. you should read it toward the end of the schoolyear