Plot summary, “The Hundred Dresses” by Eleanor Estes in 5 Minutes - Book Review

the hundred dresses is a children's book by Eleanor Estes that was originally published in 1944. it includes pen and ink illustrations by Louis slobotkin in 1945 it was awarded the Newbery honor and it continues to be a popular book in elementary schools a 2004 survey of third grade teachers found that the book was a popular choice for reading aloud in the classroom and a 2007 survey by the National Education Association named it one of the teachers top 100 books for children the story is about a schoolgirl named Wanda petronsky a Polish immigrant from a poor

family one day Wanda is absent from class at first none of the students noticed since Wanda is typically quiet and shy when Wanda is absent the next day as well big Byron the boy who sits next to her puts his feet up on her desk and makes the other children laugh Peggy the most popular girl in school and her best friend Maddie weighed outside in the morning for Wanda's arrival they often tease Wanda because she is poor and too shy to fight back and because the teacher had seated her separately from them among the other

poor students in class on this day the girls are planning on taunting her again however Wanda does not show up for the third day in a row eventually Jack a student who is always late runs by them and the girls run into class just as it is starting the girls know the neighborhood where Wanda lives since they often go there to pick wildflowers in the summer the neighborhood is not a good one and there are houses there that frighten the children Wanda lives with her father and older brother she has only one faded dress that

barely fits and this is what the Girls tease her about the most however Wanda insists she has a hundred dresses at home even though the other girls laugh at her obvious lie Maddie doesn't want to tease Wanda but she goes along with it because all of her friends do it she is also poor but is lucky enough to be good friends with Peggy who gives her hand-me-down dresses and invites her to parties Maddie is afraid that if she tells the other children to stop teasing Wanda they will begin to tease her thinking back to the

first day Wanda talked about the hundred dresses Maddie remembers that it was a bright sunny day one of her classmates Cecile showed up in a brand new bright red dress that all the other girls admired Wanda claimed to have a dress just like it at home as well as many others but said she only wore them for parties the other girls laughed at her and Maddie regrets not speaking up then when the teasing started a drawing contest is announced at the school all the girls are asked to draw dresses and the boys are asked to

draw motorboats the contest is an annual event which Peggy usually wins Maddie begins to plan her dress and forgets about Wanda for the time being when Peggy and Maddie arrive to school on the day of the contest they are amazed to see their classroom filled with drawings of beautiful dresses there are 100 of them in total and they were all submitted by Wanda before she mysteriously disappeared she is the clear winner of the drawing contest the girls walk around the room and look at the drawings and Maddie recognizes some of the dresses that Wanda used

to describe to them Peggy admits that Wanda is a great artist a letter arrives from Wanda's father January in it he says that Wanda is leaving the school permanently because of the teasing Maddie feels awful and wants to go apologize to Wanda to her relief Peggy agrees that it is a good idea however by the time they get to Wanda's home she is already gone the family has moved out and the girls can't find anyone who knows where they have gone Peggy is defensive about her actions saying that she never meant to hurt Wanda but

Maddie only feels guilty for failing to speak up when she knew Wanda was being teased later Peggy and Maddie write Wanda a letter to tell her that she has won the contest they never receive a response back from her Maddie assumes that it is because Wanda is still mad at them on Christmas a letter finally comes in it Wanda writes that she wants her classmates to keep her drawings of dresses since she has already made a hundred more she even specifies which drawings should go to Peggy and Maddie Maddie takes her drawing home upon examining

it more closely she realizes that the girl wearing the dress looks like her excited she Compares notes with Peggy who realizes Wanda also drew a picture of her Maddie is relieved taking the drawings to mean that Wanda forgives them for their cruelty after all I hope you enjoyed Ed this video leave a like if you did and be sure to subscribe thank you [Music]