THE HUNDRED DRESSES - 1 Prepared By: - Nityanandesh Narayan Tripathi PGT English Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya

The Hundred Dresses is a 1944 children's book by Eleanor Estes, illustrated by Louis Slobodkin. The book centers on Wanda Petronski, a poor and friendless Polish-American girl. Her teacher, outwardly kind, puts her in the worst seat in the schoolroom and does not intervene when her schoolmates tease her mercilessly. One day, after her classmates laugh at her funny last name and the faded blue dress she wears to school every day, Wanda claims to own one hundred dresses, all lined up in her closet. This outrageous and obvious lie becomes a game, as the girls in her class corner her every day before school, demanding that she describe for them all of her dresses. Wanda ends up leaving school and moving to the city. After she has moved, a dress design competition at school reveals that she was, indeed, telling the truth: her winning entry consists of beautiful, detailed drawings of one hundred dresses, each exactly as she had described. Her tormentors are awed by her artistic talent. But the story is not about Wanda; it is told from the point of view of her classmate Maddie, who feels bad for Wanda but is nevertheless particularly mean to her because she herself is poor and does not want to be the target of her wealthier peers. By writing sympathetically from the viewpoint of someone complicit in the social violence, the story confronts readers to question their own attitudes and behaviors

Humiliation of Wanda

Peggy and Maddie

I have hundred dresses…

Guilt Conscience of Maddie

Paintings of Dresses by Wanda Petronski at Display in Classroom

Painting Competition Won by Wanda

Meaning of some difficult Words

Summary of the Story Humiliation of Wanda Wanda was made fun for her peculiar family name – Petronski and Poor dress up. All the school children specially Maddie and Peggy used to ask about her name, number of dresses she had, pair of shoes she had, etc. Wanda would say that she had 100 dresses and hundred pair of shoes all lined up in the cupboard. She left school and did not report for many days. She studied in room no. – 13 of the school . She sat at the last bench of the class and she did not have any friend. Guilt Conscience of Maddie She also belonged to a poor family like Wanda. She was afraid that if others will know about her poverty then she will also be humiliated like Wanda. She was unable to stop Peggy to make fun of Wanda because she did not have courage to loose the friendship of her most famous and pretty friend Peggy. Painting competition won by Wanda In the opinion of students of Room No. 13 Peggy would win the drawing competition because she was considered as most talented girl. On the contrary, the competition was won by Wanda in girls’ group. In boys’ group Jack won the competition. Wanda had 100 pictures of colourful dresses. All the paintings were appreciated by students. But Wanda was not present to receive the award.

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