The Hundred Dresses

The Hundred Dresses

IMPORTANT: Comprehension questions will be in chronological order as you read through the story. Page numbers are approximate, and will vary with different editions of the book.

Section 1: Wanda-The Dresses Game

Vocabulary
  1. scuffling: a noisy shuffling of feet
  2. askew: not straight, crooked
  3. intruder: an uninvited person
  4. circulate : to pass around
  5. courteous : polite, having good manners
  6. incredulous : not believing, skeptical
Vocabulary Usage in the Book
  1. The corner of the room where there was most scuffling of feet, most roars of laughter when anything funny was said, and most mud and dirt on the floor. (Wanda, pg. 3)
  2. They saw Jack Beggles running to school, his necktie askew and his cap at a precarious tilt. (Wanda, pg. 6)
  3. After Peggy and Maddie stopped feeling like intruders in a class that had already begun, they looked across the room and noticed that Wanda was not in her seat. (The Dresses Game, pg. 8)
  4. Many stories circulated about him and the stories were the kind that made people scurry past his house even in broad daylight and hope not to meet him. (The Dresses Game, pg. 9-10)
  5. “Wanda,” Peggy would say in a most courteous, manner as though she was talking to Miss Mason or the principal perhaps. (The Dresses Game, pg. 12)
  6. “A hundred!” exclaimed all the girls incredulously, and the little girls would stop playing hopscotch and listen. (The Dresses Game, pg.12)
Vocabulary Sentences
  1. My dad’s necktie is never tied straight, and is always askew
  2. When my sister sleepwalks, I hear her feet scuffling down the hallway.
  3. Chris acted like an intruder when he came into my room without knocking.
  4. To circulate a rumor about another person is unkind.
  5. The fireman is incredulous that the boys played with firecrackers in the forest.
  6. The waitress was very courteous and friendly as she patiently took our large order.
Comprehension Questions
  1. Wanda Petronski sits in the next to the last seat in the last row in the classroom. (Ch. 1, pg. 2)
  2. Peggy and Maddie notice Wanda’s absence because Wanda had made them late to school. (Ch. 1, pg. 5)
  3. Miss Mason always begins her class session by having the students recite the Gettysburg Address. (Ch. 1, pg. 6)
  4. Peggy and Maddie wait for Wanda Petronski so that they can have fun with her. (Ch. 2, pg. 9)
  5. Wanda Petronski does not have any friends. (Ch. 2, pg. 10)
  6. Wanda tells Peggy she has one hundred dresses. (Ch. 2, pg. 12)
  7. Maddie is afraid that Peggy and the other girls will start asking her questions about her clothes and shoes. (Ch. 2, pg. 18)

Section 2: A Bright Blue Day-The Contest

Vocabulary
  1. heap: a large pile
  2. crimson: a deep red color
  3. jaunty: cheerful and lively
  4. stolidly: without emotion or feeling
  5. vivid: very bright and clear
  6. timid: shy and lacking courage
Vocabulary Usage in the Book
  1. She sharpened her pencil, turning it around carefully in the little red sharpener, letting the shavings fall in a neat heap on a piece of scrap paper… (A Bright Blue Day, pg. 19)
  2. heir sweaters and jackets and dresses, blues and golds and reds, and one crimson one particular, caught the sun’s rays like bright pieces of glass. (A Bright Blue Day, pg. 21)
  3. …and that old gray toboggan hat – it must have been something Jake had found -looked almost jaunty. (A Bright Blue Day, pg. 24)
  4. Then she repeated stolidly as though it was a lesson learned in school. (A Bright Blue Day, pg. 31)
  5. Suddenly the whole scene flashed swiftly and vividly before Maddie’s eyes. (A Bright Blue Day, pg. 20)
  6. Maybe she was just timid. (The Contest, pg. 38)
Vocabulary Sentences
  1. The hamster was so timid he would never let me hold him.
  2. After raking all of the fallen leaves into a great heap, Jordan jumped into it.
  3. The roses in the bride’s bouquet were a beautiful crimson color.
  4. Jill stood there stolidly while her mother scolded her.
  5. The colors of the sunset were vivid shades of red, pink, and orange.
  6. The elderly musician had a jaunty way about him.
Comprehension Questions
  1. The only thing Maddie sees when she looks across the room is Wanda’s empty desk. (Ch. 3, pg. 20)
  2. The hundred dresses game began on a bright blue day in October. (Ch. 3, pg 21)
  3. Jake helps Mr. Heany the janitor with the furnace and raking the leaves. (Ch. 3, pg.23)
  4. Wanda says she keeps her hundred dresses in her closet. (Ch. 3, pg. 30)
  5. Maddie wishes she had the nerve to write Peggy a note and tell her they need to stop asking Wanda about her dresses. (Ch. 4, pg. 35)
  6. The girls say that Wanda will look like a Christmas tree in her green dress with the red sash. (Ch. 4, pg. 38)
  7. For the drawing contest, the girls have to design dresses and the boys have to design motor boats. (Ch. 4, pg. 38)

Section 3: The Hundred Dresses-Up on Boggins Heights

Vocabulary
  1. murmur: low, faint talking
  2. exquisite: of great quality
  3. sparse: only a few
  4. coward: someone who is very fearful
  5. lavish: extravagant
  6. amends: something done to make up for a hurt one has caused
Vocabulary Usage in the Book
  1. Everyone stopped and whistled or murmured admiringly. (The Hundred Dresses, pg. 44)
  2. “Now, class, you may file around the room quietly and look at her exquisite drawings.” (The Hundred Dresses, pg. 45)
  3. The house and its sparse little yard looked shabby but clean. (Up On Boggins Heights, pg. 54-5)
  4. She was a coward . (The Hundred Dresses, pg. 49)
  5. There were drawings all over the room, on every ledge and windowsill, tacked to the tops of blackboards, spread over the bird charts, dazzling colors and brilliant lavish designs… (The Hundred Dresses, pg. 41)
  6. Maddie was beginning to wonder how she could bear the hard fact that Wanda had actually gone and that she might never be able to make amends . (Up On Boggins Heights, pgs. 56 – 57)
Vocabulary Sentences
  1. I felt like a coward when I was too scared to jump off the high dive.
  2. In the winter, the vegetables that grow in my garden are quite sparse.
  3. There was a lavish wedding going on in the hotel ballroom.
  4. Clare needed to make amends with her best friend after she lied to her.
  5. When I’m talking to my tutor in the library, I keep my voice to a murmur.
  6. The singer’s voice was exquisite.
Comprehension Questions
  1. The girls stop short and gasp when they see one hundred drawings of dresses hung up in the classroom. (Ch. 5, pg. 41)
  2. The children applaud, stomp their feet, and whistle when the contest winners are announced. (Ch. 5, pg. 45)
  3. Miss Mason asks everyone to get back in their seats so she can read them a letter from Wanda’s father. (Ch. 5, pg. 46)
  4. Maddie wants to tell Wanda that she is sorry for picking on her and not to move away. (Ch. 6, pg. 52)
  5. The girls see rusty tin cans, old shoes, and part of a black umbrella in the bed of the brook. (Ch. 6, pg. 53)
  6. Mr. Svenson has a bad habit of chewing tobacco and spitting the juice out. (Ch. 6, pg. 54, 59)
  7. Maddie decides that she will speak up if she ever sees someone being teased again. (Ch. 6, pg. 63)

Section 4: The Letter to Room 13

Vocabulary
  1. ashamed: embarrassed
  2. hitch: to move by pulling or jerking
  3. equalize: to make equal
  4. cornucopia: a horn filled with fruits and flowers
  5. hastily: done in a hurry
  6. auburn: a reddish brown color
Vocabulary Usage in the Book
  1. And then everybody would feel ashamed the way she used to feel. (The Letter to Room 13, pg. 68)
  2. And Maddie remembered the way she hitched her left shoulder up as she walked off to school alone… (The Letter to Room 13, pg. 66)
  3. “I miss that school and my new teacher does not equalize with you.” (The Letter to Room 13, pg. 72)
  4. Outside the grocery store hundreds of Christmas trees were stacked, and in the window candy peppermint canes and cornucopias of shiny bright transparent paper were strung. (The Letter to Room 13, pg. 73)
  5. Then hastily she rubbed her eyes and studied it intently. (The Letter to Room 13, pg. 77)
  6. And the head and face of this picture did look like the auburn-haired Peggy. (The Letter to Room 13, pg. 79)
Vocabulary Sentences
  1. On Thanksgiving, my mom always decorates the table with a large hung.
  2. Emily felt very ashamed after she took one of her friend’s toys.
  3. The baker hastily put his cookies in the oven so they would be ready for the party.
  4. Charlie had to hitch his suspenders up every few steps he took.
  5. Laurie got her long, curly, auburn hair from her grandmother.
  6. The baseball coach tried to equalize the teams so the game would be fair.
Comprehension Questions
  1. Maddie put herself to sleep at night by making speeches to defend Wanda against girls who were teasing her. (Ch. 7, pg. 66)
  2. Wanda has dull pained eyes. (Ch. 7, pg. 68)
  3. Cecile performed the dance called “Passing of Autumn.” (Ch. 7, pg. 70)
  4. Miss Mason’s surprise is a letter she received from Wanda Petronski. (Ch. 7, pg. 70)
  5. Wanda gives Maddie the blue dress drawing and Peggy the green and red dress drawing. (Ch. 7, pg. 72)
  6. When Jonathan’s dad and uncles see the bear tracks, they say, “So! So-o-o!” (Ch. 7, pg. 73)
  7. Peggy feels happy and relieved after getting the letter. (Ch. 7, pg. 76)