Summary: A poor girl with a different kind of last name than all the other students in her class repeatedly gets picked on for saying that she has a hundred dresses in her closest. Two girls in particular find this incredible and tease her everyday about this statement. The girl with a hundred dresses stops showing up to school and the students start to wonder where she could be. The two girls become deeply guilty for what they did and try to track down the girl with a hundred dresses to say they were sorry and they indeed liked her.
Citation: Estes, E., & Slobodkin, L. (1944). The hundred dresses. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co.
Impression: Although an older book, it has proven to be a timeless treasure for girls in transition into teenage hood. I loved this book and I wish I had read it 20 years earlier when I was going through troubled times as a youth. Social acceptance and criticism is a common theme amongst adolescent girls and this could be helpful to anyone in need of remembering that we are all human and have feelings.
Review:
Linda Silver (Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter)
This new edition of a classic story of prejudice begins with a Foreword by the author’s daughter, describing how it came to be written. Originally published in 1944, The Hundred Dresseswas one of the first children’s books to deal with ethnic intolerance. None of the characters are Jewish, however. Charmingly illustrated and written with a childlike perspective that does not diminish its theme, it is still an important story for children not yet ready for books about the Holocaust to read and discuss.
Silver, L. (2005, February/March) [Review of the book The hundred dresses by E. Estes]. Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter, 24(3).
Linda Silver (Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter)
This new edition of a classic story of prejudice begins with a Foreword by the author’s daughter, describing how it came to be written. Originally published in 1944, The Hundred Dresseswas one of the first children’s books to deal with ethnic intolerance. None of the characters are Jewish, however. Charmingly illustrated and written with a childlike perspective that does not diminish its theme, it is still an important story for children not yet ready for books about the Holocaust to read and discuss.
Silver, L. (2005, February/March) [Review of the book The hundred dresses by E. Estes]. Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter, 24(3).
Uses: The library could team up with Big Brothers and Big Sisters and promote this book among the youth that visit the library or at the school library. This book could be given to adolescent girls who are struggling with social acceptance or those who may be teasing or bullying others for their differences and are not aware of how their actions affect others.
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