Module 2/SLIS 5420/September 7th
The Hundred Dresses
by Eleanor Estes

Bibliography
Estes, E. (2004). The Hundred Dresses. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. (Original work published 1944). ISBN-13: 978-0152051709


Summary
This Newbery Honor Book offers readers a glimpse of the life of an unaccepted young girl and how she copes with the unkindness of her elementary classmates. Wanda’s mother has died, she lives on the ‘wrong side’ of town, and she wears the same blue faded dress to school each day. After quite some time of being the object of her classmates ridicule something happens to change the way her greatest offenders look at her and perhaps life.


My Impressions
The Hundred Dresses was first written sixty years ago, yet its message is just as applicable today. The reader is reminded that choosing to do the right thing after the fact does not always bring complete resolution and the importance of contemplating ones actions in advance. It encourages tolerance, empathy, compassion, and friendship.


Reviews

"Will take its place with the books that endure."--Saturday Review

"Written with rare intuition and pictured with warm sympathy and charm."--The Horn Book

"No young person . . . will ever forget it."--Book Week

In Eleanor Estes's long-treasured title, The Hundred Dresses (1944), 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. Reed Business Information (c) 2004


Suggested Activities

After reading this book with students discuss the character traits of the kind of student they want to be. Each student could be given a dress pattern to write their trait on and to decorate and the dresses could be used to create a bulletin board.

Instead of dresses, give patterns of both boys and girls and create a class Friendship Chain. Each decorates one to represent themselves and writes a trait they possess or will work to demonstrate throughout the year on the front and they are connected and hung together.

A creative writing extension would be having students write an alternate ending. What if Wanda had come to school that day or if the girls had found her at home and she had not moved yet?

To help student realize everyone in their class is important and to be treated with kindness you could have the students design You Are Special posters. After a discussion about put downs and compliments; the names or pictures of each student could be placed in the middle of each poster. Each student would have the opportunity to write a positive comment, phrase, or character trait on each of the other posters.

Module 2/SLIS 5420/September 7th
Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present
by Charlotte Zolotow

Bibliography
Zolotow, C. (1977). Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present. New York: Harper Collins Publishers. (Original work published 1963). ISBN-13: 9780064430203

Summary
A young girl seeks the advice of a rabbit in the forest as she goes in search of a birthday gift for her mother. The girl proposes colors one by one and each time the rabbit gives suggestions of things that she might give that would be that color. The first few are never good ideas but he manages to recommend something that will work for each color until she has created a lovely present.

My Impression
Mr. Rabbit’s Lovely Present is written in a predictable pattern making it easy for the early reader to join in a read aloud. Most children will quickly identify with the theme and enjoy the game of identifying the names of basic colors and fruits. This book received the Caldecott award; I personally did not enjoy the illustrations.

Reviews
"An outstanding book (that) can be read by first-graders."--School Library Journal.

"Finding a birthday present for her mother is no easy task for our heroine. Luckily, she happens upon the avuncular Mr. Rabbit, whose heart is in the right place, even if he doesn't always have the best ideas. Ultimately, his suggestions do come in handy, and between the two of them they determine the ideal birthday tribute: the gift of color. Children will join the protagonists in contemplating how to make the abstract tangible, and all readers will be delighted to see yellow translate to bananas, as green is given in pears, and blue takes the shape of grapes. " The soft, muted colors of Sendak's illustrations are reminiscent of a Monet landscape--utterly appealing and dreamy. And the reflective, sing-song dialogue between Mr. Rabbit and the girl is as deliciously lulling as a shady swing in a hammock. This quiet, peaceful book is a treasure for any shelf. (Ages 4 to 8)" --- Amazon.com.


Suggested Activities

This would be a great storytime read aloud for Kinder or First Graders. You could provide Kinder students with patterns of the fruit pieces in the story and a basket. Students would practice identifying colors as they created their own fruit baskets.

Mr. Rabbit’s Lovely Present makes a good writing prompt for First Graders. After reading, have students write and illustrate a story of the perfect gift for mother. This would be an excellent activity prior to Mother’s Day.