The 100 Dresses (1944)

The 100 Dresses. Eleanor Estes. Illustrated by Louis Slobodkin. 1944/2004. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 96 pages.

Two girls learn a little bit about empathy in Eleanor Estes' classic story The 100 Dresses. Wanda Petronski wears the same dress day after day. For the record, it is always clean. But still the other kids in her class--particularly the girls--can't help teasing or bullying her. She has a "weird" last name; she always wears the same clothes; she talks about having a 100 dresses at home. Peggy and her good friend, Maddie, the heroine, started the "game" of teasing her. But Maddie and Peggy both realize the error of their way, Maddie especially. But will their change of heart come too late? Will they be able to tell Wanda how very sorry they are for how they've treated her? Will she forgive them?

I liked this one very much. I'd definitely recommend it. I enjoyed both the text and the illustrations.

Have you read The Hundred Dresses? What did you think?

By The Shores of Silver Lake

By the Shores of Silver Lake. Laura Ingalls Wilder. 1939. HarperCollins. 291 pages.

As a child, By The Shores of Silver Lake wasn't my favorite of the series. I blame Jack's death for that. But as an adult, I've come to appreciate By The Shores of Silver Lake more, seeing it as more than just a transition between On the Banks of Plum Creek and The Long Winter.

In By the Shores of Silver Lake:

• Mary goes blind, Laura is "asked" to be her eyes
• Pa is offered a new job, a job with the railroad, which he takes
• He goes by wagon, Jack dies BEFORE Pa's departure
• The rest of the family travels most of the way by train
• They continue the rest of their journey (a day or two or three) by wagon
• They settle in for a while, Pa talks about the claim he hopes to claim later that year or whenever his job is finished and he's able to go out seeking a claim of his own
• Pa's job isn't always safe; he's the paymaster for the railroad, and he has to calm down an angry mob in this one.
• They meet the Boast family
• They spend the winter in the 'biggest' house Laura has ever lived in
• Winter may be lonely (no neighbors, no town) but the spring will see plenty of people come and go. EVERYONE stops at their house on their way west
• The family learns that there is a school for the blind, they all decide Mary should go there.
• The family decides to claim land near De Smet, South Dakota
• Laura catches the tiniest glimpse of Almanzo Wilder's horses

I definitely am enjoying rereading these books. By The Shores of Silver Lake may not be my favorite of the series, but, I'm glad I reread it.