The method and reason behind the madness...

The selections: Mainly, I have chosen books that were recommended during my "Transacting with Literature" class taught by Dr. Wooten at the University of TN. Some of these books were recommended by Dr. Wooten and some were introduced to me by my fabulous classmates. Additionally, some of the books were added to my database because I just love the book. Many of my entries are formatted in the annotated bibliography format in order to meet the requirements for the aforementioned class. However, many of my entries were made and labeled purely for my own convenience. How this page works: You can search by searching keywords in the top left hand corner of the page. You type in words that might relate to something you are studying or reading about and the blog will spit out the books that are labeled with those keywords. For example, WWII, give it a try. Also, you can click on the labels on the right hand side of the page or the bottom of each blog to find similar or related books. My goal: I hope to be able to add to this electronic database every time a friend recommends a book. Eventually, I would love to be able to type a key word into my search and pull a list of books to meet my needs. My request: If you are visiting this site and you can think of some books I must read, please send me an email and let me know. I'll create an entry for the book and label it appropriately to work with my other entries.

The Hundred Dresses



Estes, Eleanor. (2004) The Hundred Dresses. Illustrated by Louis Slobodkin. Sandpiper.


Amazon.com ReviewWanda Petronski lives way up in shabby Boggins Heights, and she doesn't have any friends. Every day she wears a faded blue dress, which wouldn't be too much of a problem if she didn't tell her schoolmates that she had a hundred dresses at home--all silk, all colors, and velvet, too. This lie--albeit understandable in light of her dress-obsessed circle--precipitates peals of laughter from her peers, and she never hears the end of it. One day, after Wanda has been absent from school for a few days, the teacher receives a note from Wanda's father, a Polish immigrant: "Dear teacher: My Wanda will not come to your school any more. Jake also. 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."
Maddie, a girl who had stood by while Wanda was taunted about her dresses, feels sick inside: "True, she had not enjoyed listening to Peggy ask Wanda how many dresses she had in her closet, but she had said nothing.... She was a coward.... She had helped to make someone so unhappy that she had had to move away from town." Repentant, Maddie and her friend Peggy head up to Boggins Heights to see if the Petronskis are still there. When they discover the house is empty, Maddie despairs: "Nothing would ever seem good to her again, because just when she was about to enjoy something--like going for a hike with Peggy to look for bayberries or sliding down Barley Hill--she'd bump right smack into the thought that she had made Wanda Petronski move away." Ouch. This gentle Newbery Honor Book convincingly captures the deeply felt moral dilemmas of childhood, equally poignant for the teased or the tormentor. Louis Slobodkin, illustrator of the 1944 Caldecott Medalist Many Moons, brings his wispy, evocative, color-washed sketches to Eleanor Estes's time-proven classic about kindness, compassion, and standing up for what's right. (Ages 6 and older) --Karin Snelson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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