Book #14: The Hundred Dresses

Author: Eleanor Estes

Published: 1945

Synopsis: Wanda Petronski, a little girl from Poland, is just like any other little girl, except she wears the same dress to school every single day. Often the victim of bullying from her other classmates, Wanda insists that she has a hundred different dresses, different colors, sizes and styles, all at home. Sadly, she’s poor and friendless, leading no one at all to believe her. She’s picked on even more, called a liar and has become the butt of the joke in her class. Her father later pulls her out of school, but not before she joins an art contest where she submits a hundred different designs of dresses. It is only then that her classmates realize they were wrong, and those were all her dresses.

Genre: Fiction, children’s, classics, realist, picture book, young adult

My thoughts: So yes, here’s another children’s book on my blog. It’s a simple one, and can be finished in just one sitting. I’m putting this here because it was the book that really made me think about bullying as a kid, and how its not just a joke to everyone. I didn’t understand it so much when I was younger, being pushed around or laughed at. I thought everyone was just having fun with it, even if I found myself at the end of the joke. I didn’t think that one little remark could leave such a big impact on a kid. I know we’ve all been there, and we’ve all either made fun of someone, or have been made fun of. Maybe even now sometimes we catch ourselves being insensitive, or having someone hurt our feelings. That’s just life. I’m putting this book up here on my blog because it’s a simple story, with vivid and beautiful drawings to sway you from chapter to chapter. The Hundred Dresses is an award winning book that has captured millions of hearts, not just of children, but everyone who still holds their childhood close to the heart.