"The Hundred Dresses" by Eleanor Estes

I first read The Hundred Dresses several years ago, for school. I didn't enjoy it then. Oh, I had nothing against it, it was just that A) I wasn't really interested, and B) I was reading it for school but wasn't interested so I went through it rather faster than I might otherwise have. This time around, I was reading it of my own volition, and I liked it much better.

Right. The plot. The Hundred Dresses is about a girl named Wanda Petronski, who insists that she has a hundred dresses. This despite the fact that she quite obviously does not, because she wears the same one to school every day and would surely wear some of the others if they actually existed. The other girls at her school make fun of her for this, because... uh... nobody's actually sure why. Including me. Kids are mean, I guess.

I suspect, but cannot prove, that Wanda is neurodivergent somehow. I also don't know much about neurodivergence, so I could be wrong.

At its core, this is a book about bullying. And it's deep enough and good enough to make me write sentences like "At its core, this is a book about bullying," which should probably tell you something. But anyway, it's also one of the best books on that subject I've ever read. (Admittedly, that's a bit of a low bar, because I haven't read a lot of those; however, as I believe I've said before, just because the bar was low doesn't mean you didn't jump high.)

The art in this is good. It adds to the story, and it fits very well with the general tone. 

Were this a videogame, I'd rate it: E. There's nothing in here that younger kids couldn't handle.

4 stars. Like I said, I liked it better this time.

(Endnote: This is where I'd usually make some kind of joke, but that feels rather too much like joining in the "make fun of Wanda Petronski for saying she has a hundred dresses" game. So I shall refrain.)