Grade 4 Social Issues Unit: Poverty

Eleanor Estes’s The Hundred Dresses won a Newbery Honor in 1945 and has never been out of print since. At the heart of the story is Wanda Petronski, a Polish girl in a Connecticut school who is ridiculed by her classmates for wearing the same faded blue dress every day. Wanda claims she has one hundred dresses at home, but everyone knows she doesn’t and bullies her mercilessly. The class feels terrible when Wanda is pulled out of the school, but by that time it’s too late for apologies. Maddie, one of Wanda’s classmates, ultimately decides that she is "never going to stand by and say nothing again."

Inspired by true events, One Hen tells the story of Kojo, a boy from Ghana who turns a small loan into a thriving farm and a livelihood for many. After his father died, Kojo had to quit school to help his mother collect firewood to sell at the market. When his mother receives a loan from some village families, she gives a little money to her son. With this tiny loan, Kojo buys a hen. A year later, Kojo has built up a flock of 25 hens. With his earnings Kojo is able to return to school. Soon Kojo's farm grows to become the largest in the region.

Nine-year-old Juice, the middle child of five sisters growing up in a poor rural family, would rather stay home & help Pa in his machine shop & her diabetic mother instead of attending school where she has problems learning to read.

When nine-year-old Gregory experiences several upsets in his life, he responds by creating a fantastic chalk garden on the charred walls of a burned-out factory behind his house.nbsp;nbsp;As his garden grows and flourishes, Gregory finds a voice through his art and, for the first time, is able to find his own place in the world.