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| The Hundred Dresses / Eleanor Estes; illus. by Louis Slobodkin NY: Clarion, 2014, c1944. 93 p. |
A bittersweet, classic children's book for today's review. Wanda Petronski is a new student, in a school full of well-off children. The girls in her class, especially one named Peggy, make fun of her for her Polish name, the fact that she wears the same faded blue dress every day, and after a little while, for her outrageous claim that she has more dresses at home: “A hundred of them. All lined up in my closet.”
Peggy's friend Maddie feels bad about the way that Wanda is treated, but not enough to say anything -- she's afraid she'll be next if she does. But then Wanda stops coming to school, and they wonder what's happened to her. Shortly after, the school art prize is going to be announced, and when the students enter their class, there are 100 beautiful sketches pinned up to view -- all of the hundred dresses that Wanda had drawn before her family moved to the more friendly big city.
Wanda has also left instructions for two of the sketches to be given in particular to Peggy and Maddie, as she created them with the girls in mind. Maddie realizes that she made the wrong choices, that speaking up is always the thing to do when something is happening that she is uncomfortable with. The lessons in this story are gentle and not overly didactic, they arise out of a naturally told story. And sadly they are still so relevant 80 years after this was written.
But aside from that, the descriptions of the dresses and the imagination that Wanda shared with the class are all so lovely and I really enjoyed picturing the drawings that she'd created. A lovely read, with so many touching elements.
I can't believe this book came up in your blog now (smile). I JUST returned my library copy. I too am a librarian but not a public nor children's librarian so had never heard of it. It appeared on my hold shelf because I regularly request all the fashion, clothing, sewing, etc. books just to keep up. I was surprised a children's book showed up, but it was short, with a Polish name (I'm Polish-American), vintage-y illustrations so I read it. I second all your review remarks. Lovely up to date preface I believe written by the author's daughter. Very nice for our zeitgeist especially here in the US.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter, now 43, got that book in probably the fourth grade in a Scholastic book order. It is still on her shelf in her room so I reread it just now. It is a thought provoking book for any time. She now has a daughter about that age, who loves dresses and sewing, and I'm going to suggest she read it if she hasn't already. Thanks for the review. Carolyn F.
ReplyDeleteHi Melanie, I think I may have to acquire a copy of this book. From your review and the comments above I can see a great deal of relevance to children (in fact anybody) at any period in life. I have a granddaughter who would enjoy it. And the dresses are an added bonus!
ReplyDelete..... Sara