The Hundred Dresses - Reading and Activity Guide

This is a beautiful story by Eleanore Estes is about a little girl who claims to have 100 dresses, even though everybody knows she has only the one she wears.  Very few children's books address socioeconomic diversity and the prejudice that can accompany it for those with less.  This book handles the topic in a way that shares a lesson the author herself learned the hard way. Additionally, the subjects of courage, right and wrong, loyalty and friendship all come up through the thoughts the main character struggles with in the book.

Just for The Fun of It

Hopscotch may be old-fashioned, but it is still a heck of a lot of fun - and can be played for the price of a piece of chalk.  If you haven't already, give it a try! Hubpages Hopscotch will not only teach you the actual rules of the game, but its history as well.

Eleanor Estes weaves the message of equality into the story in one more way by showing the kids reciting the Gettysburg Address in the classroom.  Learn a little about this great president AND learn his very short Gettysburg Address.  Have your kids learn the address, set a rhythm or a song to it and then make a music video where they preform the Address as "The Lincolns - a band for equality"

Design a dress or two of your own.  There are lots of "fashion" kits out there with different ways of teaching girls to draw dresses and fashion, OR you can just sketch your own ideas the way Wanda did.  You can also use coloring page images and add color and trimmings as you see fit.

Find your kids a pen-pal to help them learn about someone who is different, but the same.  There are a TON of different pen-pal programs out there.  If your student/students are learning how to write letters, there is a Traditional Letter Writing Pen-Pal Program for that.  However, if you have particularly artistic kids there is a Pen-Pal Program for artistic exchanges too.  The artistic exchange is also a good one for cultural exchange.  There are also programs that use email and are international as well.  If none of the linked programs work for you, simply do a search - there are many more programs out there.

Vocabulary and Comprehension

I had Alice do the first set of vocabulary before reading and then do the second vocabulary set before reading section two and so on.  This worked pretty well in order to keep things simple.  There were a few circumstances where the word came after reading, and many where it came before reading. 

Section One

This section ends on page 18.   For this vocabulary, I gave Alice a list of the definitions and had her match the words to the definition.

Vocabulary

absence

contrary

askew

precarious

reciting

unison

intruder

furthermore

circulated

scurry

stolidly

derisively

outer fringe

disperse

mock

arithmetic

exclaiming

crimson

granite

furnace

Questions to Consider

1. Does Wanda have many friends? How do you know?
2. What is the dresses game?
3. Why don't they believe Wanda?
4. What makes Wanda so different?
5. Maddie struggles between her loyalty to her friend Peggy and her dislike for the dresses game.  Would saying something to Peggy about Maddie's feelings truly be disloyal?
6. How do you think Wanda feels about the dresses game?

Section Two

For the Vocabulary for section two (which ends on page 39), I gave Alice the vocabulary words, AND definitions and asked her to draw pictures that represented the word meanings.  Multiple words COULD be incorporated into one picture if she wished.

Vocabulary

toboggan

dilapidated

trimmings

cerise

admiration

assembled

exquisite

several

Questions to Consider

1. What is "having fun with Wanda?"
2. Is Peggy cruel to Wanda or is she just having some fun? Answer this question from Peggy's perspective AND from Maddie's.
3. Why doesn't Maddie say anything to Peggy regarding her feelings about the dresses game?  Is Maddie cruel for staying silent?
4. Why do you think Wanda said she had 100 dresses?
5. What do you think about the idea that Peggy could not do anything that was really wrong just because she is best liked?  Is that true? Explain your answer.

Section Three

For this vocabulary set, I created a crossword puzzle using Ed Helper.  I used the definitions as the hints, but also gave her the list of words from which to choose.  Section three ends on page 49.

Vocabulary

hesitate

approached

timid

vaguest
firmly

incredulously

pursing

absentmindedly

consisted

announce

lavish

Questions to Consider

1. Do you think Wanda's designs are her 100 dresses?
2. Why does Maddie think herself a coward?  Do you agree or disagree with her?  Why?
3. Write out what you think Maddie and Peggy should say to Wanda if they see her.
4. What do you think will happen in Boggins Heights?

 Section Four

For this vocabulary list, I had Alice look up the words in her dictionary and copy definitions down.
This section ends on page 64.

Vocabulary

tense

expectant

deliberately

unfortunate

forbidding

consoled

sumac

sparse

hastily

shabby

Questions to Consider

1. List some of the things that Maddie is thinking about that make her feel she should have been nicer to Wanda.
2. What do you think about Peggy's idea that it is okay because if not for the teasing maybe Wanda wouldn't have won?  Is she right or not?  Explain your answer.
3. How would you feel about Peggy and Maddie if you had been Wanda?

Section 5

For this vocabulary list, I had Alice help make a crossword puzzle with me.  If I was working with many children, I probably would have handed out a pre-made crossword puzzle for them to do.  This section coincides with the last chapter.

Vocabulary

amends 

bear (as in the verb, to bear)

furnished

frail

unintelligible

disconsolate

carefree

transparent

finality

vivid

Questions to Consider

1. Do you think you'd've forgiven them and given Peggy and Maddie some of your drawings?
2. How do you think Peggy really feels about Wanda?  Cite quotations from the book to support your answer.
3. Did you enjoy reading this book?  Why or why not?
4. The Author, Eleanor Estes, told her daughter she wrote this book because of a true story from her own life.  Eleanor Estes had a classmate who was taunted in the same way Wanda was taunted.  She was Polish and wore the same dress to school everyday but left the school suddenly at one point and no one ever heard from her again.  This book is her way of saying she is sorry to that little girl.  What does that make you think about the Author?  Does that make you consider the story differently? 
5. Is there anyone to whom you would recommend this book - why?

Other Resources for The Hundred Dresses

Lesson Guide that focuses on Courage

Teaching Books Network - Has links to more Lesson Guide options and an audio clip.