Wanda Petronski Quotes

“Nobody knew exactly why Wanda sat in the seat unless it was because she came all the way from Boggins Heights, and her feet were usually caked with dry mud that she picked up coming down the country roads.”

“Wanda didn’t have any friends. She came to school alone and went home alone. She always wore a faded blue dress that didn’t hang right. It was clean, but it looked as though it had never been ironed properly.”

“Nobody in the room thought about Wanda at all except when it was her turn to stand up for oral reading. Then they all hoped she would hurry up and finish and sit down, because it took her forever to read a paragraph.”

″... she knew she’d never have the courage to speak right out to Peggy, to say, ‘Hey, Peg, let’s stop asking Wanda how many dresses she has.’ When she finished her arithmetic, she did start a note to Peggy. Suddenly she paused and shuddered. She pictured herself in the school yard, a new target for Peggy and the girls.”

″‘A hundred dresses,’ repeated Wanda stolidly, ‘All lined in my closet.‘”

“For now Peggy seemed to think a day was lost if she had not had some fun with Wanda, winning the approving laughter of the girls.”

“Today, Monday, Wanda Petronski was not in her seat. But nobody, not even Peggy and Madeline, the girls who started all the fun, noticed her absence.”

“The colors in the dress were so vivid she had scarcely noticed the face and head of the drawing. But it looked like her, Maddie! It really did. The same short blond hair, blue eyes, and wide straight mouth. Why, it really looked like her own self! Wanda had really drawn this for her.”