ill. Louis Slobodkin
Harcourt Brace & Co., 1944
80p. 1-5g. Newbery Honor
FF will from here on out stand for "Flashback Friday". Regardless of what this timestamp stays (I will get that fixed!), it is Friday, May 11. I just graduated with my M.Ed.! And I am going to review books that I remember reading as a kid - Flashback Friday. It's brilliant.
THEN: I remember this book being something about a poor, filthy girl that everyone made fun of because she lies about owning one hundred dresses. I also remember everyone who made fun of her ends up being very sorry they did so.
NOW: Well, first of all, if I never read the word "stolidly" again, I'll be a happy camper. At least three times it was used! Three times! for such a little story. Vivid word choice aside, I never realized this story is told from the perspective of Maddie, the keeps-her-mouth-shut sidekick of popular girl Peggy. Peggy's the one that starts picking on Wanda Petronski, eventually calling it a "game", because Wanda claims she's "got a hundred dresses. All lined up." This seems a tall tale coming from the girl with the weird last name who wears the same blue, cotton dress everyday.
Here is where my memory first failed me - Wanda is not filthy. She is poor, yes, but Estes describes her as "shabby but clean." And certainly singled out because she's Polish, or rather, just something different than American. The second place my memory fails me is that I could have sworn Peggy and Maddie eat their words by going to Wanda's house and actually seeing all one hundred dresses. That doesn't happen. I won't tell you what does happen, but the girls' conviction is much less tangible.
I have a Kindergarten teacher-friend who reads this as a read-aloud to her class (maybe I should ask them to define "stolidly") and enjoys the chance to discus friendships and bullying and not judging a book by its cover. It's a quick read with a poignant yet light message. My only beef is probably a result of modernism. The Hundred Dresses was copyrighted in 1944 and renewed in 1972. Am I too cynical or does Wanda let everyone off pretty darn easy? I don't think we'd see such bought-into unconditional love these days. I feel like the girls need to be held more accountable for their teasing, especially before Maddie's guilt and do-good delusions eat her alive. Someone on LM_NET posted using this book as a helpful tool in mediating catfighting girls. Would it really give that message? Is it believable enough or too outdated to hit home?
I have to say I'm a fan of the sparse colored pencil sketches. I especially like the blurry drawings of the hundred dresses. I remember the thriftiness of the illustrations really setting the mood for the Reader to empathize with Wanda and her "poverty".
Ah, Flashback Friday. Thank you for this trip down Memory Lane.
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