Wanda Petronski, a Polish immigrant girl in a small American town, wears the same faded blue dress to school every day. When her classmates, led by the popular Peggy and his hesitant friend Maddie, mock her poverty, Wanda claims to have one hundred silk and velvet dresses lined up in her closet. After Wanda’s father moves the family to the city to escape ethnic prejudice, a school drawing contest reveals one hundred vibrant technical sketches of dresses. The story tracks Maddie’s internal guilt as she realizes that her silence made her an accomplice to the bullying.
Elementary school students and educators read this book to understand the mechanics of social exclusion and the weight of being a bystander. It provides a specific case study in how peer pressure silences individual conscience. Readers walk away with a clear perspective on the permanence of regret and the difficulty of making amends once an opportunity for apology has passed. The narrative functions as a tool for teaching empathy toward immigrants and children from low-income backgrounds.
Inward-looking, contemplative, clear-cut and thought-provoking; an easy read.
Best for readers like The Story Seeker. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1944
- Language
- EN
