The young girl in this history-inspired picture book is clever and skilled with a needle, and she makes a dress out of a repurposed flour sack, as many women and girls did during the Great Depression. The story shows how she goes on to continually repurpose the fabric every time something wears out, and it's a nice representation of the "waste not, want not" mentality. The text doesn't always flow perfectly, but it's a cute story, and the illustrations are charming and colorful. This will appeal to kids and adults who enjoy crafts.

How to make do many times over! From flour sack to dress and eventually...a quilt!
The illustrations by Angela C. Hawkins are fun, complex, colorful, and delightful.
Well suited for reading WITH someone of any age including ESL, and great for gifting to anyone, but especially to a school or your local public library!
I requested and received a free temporary e-book on Adobe Digital Editions from Gnome Road Publishing via NetGalley. Thank you!

Charming and fun picture book about a little girl from another time. Nancy Bess picks out a flour sack with a cute daisy pattern which becomes her dress. As time goes by, the daisy cloth is re-purposed time and time again in different ways - as a scarf, an apron, a belt and so on. Kids will enjoy the "chorus" as the changes happen. The timely message is that you don't just throw something away if you can use it again in another form. Pleasant and entertaining with a little history and a little practical common sense. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

One of my favorite children’s books I’ve read all year. It tells the story of Nancy Bess. Nancy Bess teaches the reader how to be content with what we have. How to waste not, want not. Flour sacks were used extensively in the 1930’s to make clothing and scrap quilts. There’s a catchy phrase repeated throughout the book that reenforces these lessons. Nancy Bess is a delightful young girl. The illustrations are heartwarming and lovely. I will definitely be purchasing this book. Highly recommend. This review of this ARC is my honest opinion.

This was such a fun and engaging story. Nancy Bess was very clever with her dress as time passed. It was enjoyable to watch the progression of the story as she got older. The illustrations were whimsical. This is a story both children and adults can enjoy together. I think it is a great idea to introduce children to repurposing old items at a young age. We live in an era when everything is so easily replaceable. It is great to teach children how fun it can be to use and reuse.

Thank you so much to Gnome Road Publishing and Netgalley for the ebook to read and review.

Nancy Bess likes to wear pretty dresses, she finds the perfect flour sack at the store and knows she wants to make a dress out of it when it’s empty, a dress that she loves and wears at all times.

I loved that this story was like a time capsule of Nancy Bess growing up along side the sack dress. It was really beautiful and captured the era so perfectly too, “waste not, want not”. In a time where money and items were scarce you used what you had and I loved how it captured that throughout the book.

As Nancy Bess grew we saw the dress change into many different things throughout time, she never wanted to say goodbye to that fabric pattern she loved so much. But what I also liked was within these gorgeous illustrations were if you really looked you could see that she had on various other different sacks as her clothing that were at the store in the beginning as she aged. I really loved that touch that it showed how much they used them.

This was honestly a really beautifully written story, it was so sweet, it was repetitive but I liked that as it was how her story was. It showed a different time, the way things were once. I really enjoyed this sweet story and do recommend it, it’s such a lovely read.

Nancy Bess picked the perfect flowered flour sack, which would become her dress when it was emptied of its contents. When she outgrew the dress, Nancy had an idea. What would the perfect dress become?

Nancy Bess Had a Dress is a nod to history, one which children of this generation might not be aware. The author does a great job of bringing the time period to life and explains the reasoning behind the book at the conclusion. The illustrations are well drawn and the story is sweet.

My favorite show growing up was Little House on the Prairie, so this book was very nostalgic to me. I would definitely buy this book for a child and would recommend it to other readers.

Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy by NetGalley and the publisher. The decision to read and review this children's book was entirely my own.

This was a wonderful book about Nancy Bess and how she and her mom made her a dress out of the fabric used to make a flour bag. In the 1930's this was a common thing to do so this book will provide both a fun story but also a little of a history lesson. The book continues on to describe the various ways the girl uses the fabric as she grows out of the dress and each new item either gets worn or ripped. The idea of using something over and over until it is gone is one that was especially common in the 1930's when people didn't have very much and had to make everything count. I hope that this book might make kids think about reusing items once they are old instead of just getting rid of them.
The writing is fairly simple and has lots of repetition so I think it would be a good book for kids to learn to read with, and the illustrations are really nicely done to allow for some good engagement with the story as it progresses. I think Kids will enjoy this book and hopefully learn something too,

I received an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley, all opinions are my own,

Book 116 of 200 ~ 2023

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This children's book tells of a historical time back in the late 1930s when people were not usually so well off thus, they repurposed whatever they could.

This book with its beautiful illustrations and wonderfully worded (in particular repetition that I feel will help children ease into new words and understanding) was brilliant at sharing the moment in history where empty flour sacks were repurposed over and over in spite of the fact that they got ripped, stained, or worse.

From dress to bag to scarf and so forth, maybe to a certain extent, we could learn to repurpose our own belongings and, in turn, help the planet.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you, @netgalley

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This children’s book is a cute story of a young girl who transforms a daisy print flour sack into a dress. As the dress becomes worn it is repurposed into an apron, a satchel, a scarf, a belt, a hair bow, and a dog collar. She eventually uses all the leftover bits to make a lovely, useful gift. It’s a delightful read with colorful and pleasant illustrations. This is easy to follow and very appropriate to read to a young, crafty child who appreciate creativity, ingenuity, and minimizing waste. I appreciated reading a copy via NetGalley.

The writing was cleverly done. It was simple to read yet at the same time informative. I learnt something new!

The text was in little sections and spread around the page. Despite this it was easy to keep track of and added interest. As the text was integrated into the picture there were different coloured backgrounds and at times the text was white, so this may cause a problem for some readers.

I liked the repetition in the story, which is helpful when children are learning to read. The story also had a formulaic style to it, which again I think is helpful when learning to read.

At the end of the book I liked that there was a factual piece informing the reader of the real life inspiration for the story. I love that the story was based on real life events and had a great message behind it.

The illustrations were beautiful. I loved the colours and the detail. They were the sorts of pictures that each time you looked, you kept seeing something new. They were full of life and really added to the story.

Overall a really lovely book. I highly recommend!