Discussion Questions
- Why do you think that Wanda didn’t have any friends?
- Why do you think that Wanda said that she had a hundred dresses in her closet? Was she lying?
- Why was Maddie afraid to speak to Peggy about her feelings about making fun of Wanda?
- Maddie thinks to herself that standing by silently while Peggy teased Wanda was worse than Peggy’s teasing. She thinks she was a coward because she had known that teasing Wanda was wrong and had not done anything to stop it. Was she a coward? Why didn’t she do anything?
- Why did Wanda move away?
- How do you think Peggy and Maddie felt when they saw Wanda’s drawings?
- What is a friend? Are Peggy and Maddie friends?
- Maddie says that nothing will ever seem good to her again because she’d always know that she made Wanda move away. Do you think she is right?
- Peggy says that teasing Wanda about the hundred dresses probably gave her good ideas for her drawings, and maybe she wouldn’t have won the drawing contest otherwise. Do you think that this makes sense?
- Maddie decides that she is never going to stand by and say nothing again. Do you think that this is a good rule? Do most people “stand by and say nothing?” Why or why not?
- When Maddie and Peggy receive the drawings Wanda made, Peggy concludes that Wanda really liked them and that everything was all right. Maddie isn’t so sure about that. What do you think? Why was Maddie still sad?
- What would be better: to write a friendly letter to Wanda or to write a real apology letter? Why?
- Did you enjoy The Hundred Dresses? Why or why not?
Questions used from: The Northwest Center for Philosophy for Children
