Module 2 - The Hundred Dresses

The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes

Summary

Wanda Petronski did not have any friends. She wore the same worn blue dress every day to school.  Wanting to fit in, a she makes a comment to her classmates that she has one hundred dresses at home. Two classmates, Peggy and Maddie, made a point to pick on her and question her about all of the dresses.  One day, Wanda does not show up for school.  In her absence she has won a medal for her artwork: hundreds of dresses.  Wanda's dad sends a letter to the school saying that Wanda will not be returning.  They are moving to the big city where they will not stand out as "Polacks."  Peggy and Maddie feel guilty and go to Wanda's house to look for her.  They find that she has moved away.  They write a letter telling Wanda about the contest and telling her that she won.  They also tell her that they liked her drawings.  The mail it to her old home and hope the postal service forwards the letter.  When Wanda response finally arrives, the girls learn a valuable lesson in friendship.  

Estes, E. (1944). The hundred dresses. Orlando, Florida: Harcourt Brace & Company.

My Impressions

The Hundred Dresses was written in 1944, but the story remains relevant today.  Schools continue to have anti-bullying campaigns.  This story shows the pain a child can experience from the unkindness that children can extend to each other, and it also shows how the bullies feel when they realize what they have done.  I felt really bad for Wanda, but I like how the author gave empowered her by forgiving her tormentors.  

Reviews:

"The first book is the classic The Hundred Dressesby Eleanor Estes. It was published in 1944 and tells the story of a quiet Polish girl named Wanda Petronski who is mercilessly mocked by the girls at school for a variety of reasons: She lives in a poor section of town, she has what kids think is a funny-sounding last name, and she wears the same faded blue dress every day. Wanda yearns to find acceptance and insists that she has 100 beautiful dresses at home — dresses that she designed herself. Her insistence just brings more laughter and teasing. No one believes a child with such finery in her closet would choose to wear rags to school. There is a student named Maddie who is very uncomfortable with the daily chorus of taunts; she knows it's wrong, but she says nothing and goes along with the crowd.

One day, Wanda does not show up at school. Instead, her father sends a simple note:

Dear teacher: My Wanda will not come to your school anymore ... Now we move away to 

big city. No more holler Polack. No more ask why funny name. Plenty of funny names in the big city.

Yours truly, Jan Petronski

It's only then that the students learn the real story behind those 100 dresses in a twist that will resonate in young hearts for years. The Hundred Dresses is a favorite book in the classroom — teachers use it to spark discussions about bullies, bystanders and compassion. All Things Considered discussed The Hundred Dresses in a segment on books that help parents ease children through some of life's challenges. Caroline Ward of Ferguson Library in Stamford, Conn., says the book provides a powerful lesson about the remorse that settles in when a student misses an opportunity to say "I'm sorry."

Eleanor Estes attended elementary school during World War I, and she told her own daughter that she was inspired by a Polish girl in her Connecticut classroom who wore the same dress to school every day. Estes said she never forgot the little girl who was treated so badly and who, like Wanda Petronski, moved to the big city midway through the school year."

Norris, M. (2012, January 26). [Web log message]. Retrieved from       http://www.npr.org/2012/01/26/145841795/kids-book-club-shooting-kabul-and-the-hundred-dresses

"Classic titles return in time for the gift-giving season. For a new generation of readers, Eleanor Estes's long-treasured title, The Hundred Dresses (1944), illus. by Louis Slobodkin, appears in its 60th anniversary finery with newly ""restored color"" in the artwork. Wanda faces mockery at school, both because of her ""funny"" last name (Petron-ski) and her claims that she has 100 dresses at home even though she wears the same one to school each day." 

The hundred dresses. (2004, September 01). Retrieved from      http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-15-205170-9

Suggestions for Use in Library

Before reading the book:

Have a class contest similar to the one in the book.  Give each student two entry forms. The students may enter in either or both categories: dresses or motorboats.  Set guidelines for the students or let them use any medium they wish for the contest: marker, crayon, pencil, watercolor, construction paper, etc.

Display the motorboats in one area of the classroom and the dresses in another.  Ask other teachers to help you choose the best entries.  Award prizes to the first-, second-, and third-place winners of the contest.  Prizes may be awarded for categories such as most interesting design or most eye-catching.

After reading the book:

Create a Talk Show – For this type of report the students will need to work in groups of three or four. They will be creating a skit in the form of a talk show.  The hosts of the talk show can be Maddie, Peggy, and/or Wanda.  Other characters (such as Miss Mason, the principal, Mr. Svenson, and the other students in room 13) may be included in the panel.  Students will write a script for the talk show and cover the injustices, feelings, and actions of those people who played a large role or watched the events of the story unfold.

Allen-Russell, S. (1998). A guide for using the hundred dresses in the classroom.      Westminster, CA: Teacher Created Resources, Inc.

Module 2 - The Little Engine That Could

The Little Engine That Could 
by Watty Piper

Summary

A happy little train is on her way to deliver toys and goodies to children when all of the sudden she stops and cannot go any further.  A shiny new engine, a big strong engine,  and a rusty old engine all refuse to help make the delivery.  A little blue engine comes a long and isn't sure she can handle the load, but agrees to try.  When the going gets tough she chugs, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can" and successfully delivers the goodies to the awaiting boys and girls.


Piper, W. (1986). The little engine that could, the complete, original edition. New York: Platt & Munk, Publishers.

My Impressions

I remember reading this story as a child; however, the story I recall did not have the three trains that refused to help.  I only remember the little blue engine that came along to help.  I like the original story better.  In addition to teaching the universal lesson that if you have a positive attitude, you can do anything, the story also teaches children to not stop looking for help.   Assistance can come from the most unlikely sources.  This story parallels the Good Samaritan story in the bible.

Reviews

Best Children's Books
Watty Piper's The Little Engine That Could

Children's book review by Steve Barancik

Ages 3-8

I think I can. He thinks he can. Do you think he can? Do you think YOU can?

I've heard The Little Engine That Could described as a quintessentially American story. I don't buy it. Are they trying to tell me that parents in the rest of the world want their children to think they can't?

This book is universal, an essential book for any parent who wants their children to have confidence in themselves and a belief in what they can achieve if only they try hard enough.

The story has roots that go way back, but the text most of us are most familiar with can be traced back to 1930. (And the illustrations I grew up with are the ones I chose to feature at the top of this page. There are other versions as well.)

I have to admit, I was surprised as I reread this book. My memory was that the book consisted almost entirely of the words, I think I can. I had that wrong, but those words are definitely the take-away message of the book.

A weary old engine breaks down on the way to bringing great toys and yummy food to the children on the other side of the mountain. She can't go another inch.Well, the toys are eager to be owned! Led by a "funny little clown," they endeavor to engage another engine to take their little train over the mountain.A weary old engine breaks down on the way to bringing great toys and yummy food to the children on the other side of the mountain. She can't go another inch.

The Passenger Engine is used to carrying important people, not toys. He refuses to have anything to do with this crew. The Freight Engine likewise. And, alas, while the Rusty Old Engine has sympathy, he has only enough strength left to pull himself.

The toys are very sad.

Along comes a Little Blue Engine. This perky young fellow wasn't built for carrying such large loads. But you know what? He thinks he can. He thinks he can. And sure enough...he does.

Painter Loren Long brings us a new version of the book plenty faithful to earlier editions illustrated by Doris and George Haumann. The Little Blue Engine is still a steam engine, still cute and almost cuddly. I'm of course biased by what I grew up with, but I suspect children today will show a strong preference for the newer version. The toys in the new one come off more as characters unto themselves than objects that belong in a toy chest.

Either way, you can hardly go wrong. The Little Engine That Could has helped instill in children a belief in themselves for the better part of a century. Put those magic words in the back of your child's mind: I think I can, I think I can...

Barancik, S. (n.d.). The little engine that could. Retrieved from http://www.best-childrens-books.com/little-engine-that-could.html

Suggestions for Use in the Library

• For Christian librarians in a private school setting: Use a Venn diagram to compare/contrast this story to the Good Samaritan story from the Bible.
• Reader's Theater: Have students act out the story using props and puppets.

Module 1 - Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude

Summary:

A boy and a girl must work on a story together.  They are not looking forward to working together. The girl starts the story with a tale of a princess and her ponies, very girlie.  The boy interjects with a masculine storyline.  The two go back and forth carrying the story to the climax where they both go to battle to save the ponies.  The story ends with the boy and the girl agreeing...almost.

O'Malley, K., Goto, S., & Heyer, C. (2005). Once upon a cool motorcycle dude. New York: Walker Publishing         Company, Inc.

My Impression of the book:

I love this book.  I remember as a child hating to work on group project. I felt a vicarious thrill seeing the boy and girl take matters into their own hands, something I would not have done as a child. The story pits boy against girl, masculine against feminine.  The girl may seem weaker in the beginning, but she ends the story on equal footing with the boy.  I think that this book really empowers girls and also helps boys to see that girls really can be heros. 

Reviews:

Library Media Connection (August/September 2005)

A girl and boy create a fantasy for their library report. The girl's character is a damsel-in- distress and the boy's character is a motorcycle-riding "cool muscle dude." When the boy narrates, the "muscle Dude" is rewarded with gold thread that the damsel spins, then the girl transforms her damsel into "Princess Warrior" who tells the muscle dude to make his own thread. While there is some attempt to dispel stereotypes, the message is confusing as only the Princess changes. The value of this story might be in discussion of plot development and choices writers make at various junctures in a narrative. Additional Selection. Brenda Dales, Visiting Assistant Professor, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio

Dales, B. (2005, August/September). Once upon a cool motorcycle dude. Library Media Connection,24(1), 71. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=a07849a8-d02a-4482-a322-5a34bb7ed780@sessionmgr115&vid=6&hid=122

 

Kirkus Reviews (March 15, 2005)

Young readers who have ever been forcibly yoked to a rival for some class project will glory in this contentious oral report. Unable to agree on a folktale to tell their classmates, a lad and lass decide to make it up as they go. She starts, with Princess Tenderheart-rendered by Heyer in flowing silk gowns and blonde tresses-pining for her beloved ponies, which are being stolen one by one by a giant. Gagging, the storyteller's companion proceeds to add a huge dude who roars up on a chopper to provide protection, and to battle a giant that, in Goto's testosterone-soaked oils, is green but far from jolly. Meanwhile, instead of passively sitting by spinning straw into gold, the Princess starts pumping iron . . . and on the tale seesaws, to a more or less happily-ever-after. The unusual collaboration among illustrators works seamlessly, with O'Malley supplying the storytellers, and Heyer and Goto the characters on separate pages or spreads. This disarming, funny and not agenda-driven dig at the hot-button issue of gender differences is likely to excite plenty of giggles-and perhaps some discussion, too. (Picture book. 6-9)

Once upon a cool motorcycle dude. (2005, March 3).Kirkus Reviews, 73(6), 356. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?

Use in Library Setting

Older elementary students: Have the students work in pairs to create and illustrate their own story.  
Younger elementary students: Introduce point of view and voice. 
All ages would enjoy a reader's theater production acting out the book.