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Eloise is a little girl who lives at The Plaza Hotel in New York. She is not yet pretty but she is already a Person.
Henry James would want to study her.
Queen Victoria would recognize her as an Equal.
The New York Jets would want to have her on their side.
Lewis Carroll would love her (once he got over the initial shock).
She knows everything about The Plaza. She is interested in people when they are not boring.
She has Inner Resources.
If you take her home with you, you will always be glad you did.
Here is everyone's favorite enfant terrible--Eloise--making life anything but dull, dull, dull. A true modern classic.
— Edward I. Koch (former NYC mayor!!!)
"Eloise is a model for uppity women."
— Nina Totenberg (rawther important radio lady)
"Thanks to Eloise, my daughter sought independence and mastery over her life. We loved reading this book, and we've never given it away."
— Susan Sarandon (rawther grande actress)
"Ooooooo....I just love Eloise! Thank you, Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight. You're the bestest!"
— Judy Blume (lovely author)
"My first happy response to Eloise was entirely due to the brilliant, iconic images. That brazen, loose-limbed, deliciosly little girl monster is Hilary Knight at his best."
— Maurice Sendak (enormously famous artist)
"Eloise, Kay, and Hilary have been in my life always. And her pug puppy is in my heart. What memories!"
— Lena Horne (movie star)
Kay Thompson (1909-1998) was a singer, dancer, vocal arranger, and coach of many MGM musicals in the 1940s.
The Eloise character grew out of the voice of a precocious six-year-old that Miss Thompson put on to amuse her friends. Collaborating with Hilary Knight on what was an immediate bestseller, Kay Thompson became a literary sensation when Eloise was published in 1955. The book has sold more than two million copies to date. Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight created four more Eloise books, Eloise in Paris, Eloise at Christmas, Eloise in Moscow, and Eloise Takes a Bawth.
Hilary Knight, son of artist-writers Clayton Knight and Katharine Sturges, was educated at the Art Students League, where he studied with Reginald Marsh. Besides the Eloise books, Hilary Knight has illustrated more than fifty books for children, six of which he wrote himself.
He lives and works in New York City, not far from The Plaza Hotel.
Urged to write a book starring Eloise, Thompson began the project in earnest while "holed up at the Plaza" with illustrator Hilary Knight. The 1955 book was, as Life called it in 1957, "rampantly popular," with accompanying merchandise including dolls, children's clothing, and a record of a song coauthored and performed by Thompson ("Who is the little girl who knows everybody's business in New York?/I spend an enormous amount of time in the lobby. I have to see what's going on there./Who's on the telephone most of the day?/I have to call room service a lot and tell them to charge it, please and thank you very much.") The premise was irresistible: A precocious six-year-old living in the Plaza Hotel, making mischief, eventually traveling to Paris and Moscow? What's not to like?
Brimming with confidence, self-importance and a general disregard for rules, Eloise had to have been a refreshing anomaly among female characters in the '50s. Thompson, as headstrong and independent as her heroine, has been called a protofeminist. The cadence of Thompson's text was also unusual. Stringing together fragments and rhymes, Thompson's "Eloisiana" gives the six-year-old a grown-up twist, combining catchphrases such as "Charge it, please" and "For Lord's sake" with made-up words ("skibble," "slomp") and Eloise's appropriation of her nanny's accent and thrice-repeated words ("We've got to get out of this tub tub tub").
After an unfortunate 1956 television adaptation of Eloise, Thompson (who appeared as herself in the Playhouse 90 show) banned any further dramatic interpretations. She also felt that the sequels had done the original book a disservice, and allowed them to go out of print, earning a reputation for being capricious and difficult. When Thompson died in 1998, the character had a revival. Thompson's sister authorized rereleases of the Eloise sequels and a special edition of the original book, which was shepherded by illustrator Knight. In 2002, Simon & Schuster released the final Thompson-Knight collaboration, Eloise Takes a Bawth.
Despite Thompson's preference, another attempt will be made to bring Eloise to life: ABC has two Eloise movies in the works. Eloise is slated for May 2003, and Eloise at Christmastime follows in December 2003.
Thompson was a vocal arranger and composer who worked on several films in the '40s and '50s, including Weekend at the Waldorf, Ziegfeld Follies, and Funny Face, which she also acted in alongside Audrey Hepburn in 1957.
Thompson coached Judy Garland during her Hollywood days; according to a 1996 article in Vanity Fair, she became a close friend of Garland's who often traveled with her and children Liza and Lorna.
Chew gum
Write
Spell
Stand on my head for the longest amount of time
Get dizzy and fall down
Make a terrible face
And here's the thing of it
Most of the time I'm on the telephone
Anonymous
Posted May 5, 2008
I was just reviewing books in the teens section and decided to review some books I read when I was younger :D This book was good! Eloise always made me happy and cheered me up because she's so funny and energectic! I guess I had blonde hair and kinda looked like her when I was little and even though my name is Skylar my aunt would always call me Eloise because I was so hyper!
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted August 25, 2008
My mother used to read Eloise to me and my sister when we were little, and we always laughed! She is such a naughty little girl, but only because she's trying to be helpful. Such a busy body! I recommend this book for both boys and girls.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 22, 2012
Good story and illustrations but too difficult to read on my Color Nook. In order to read the captions of the illustrations, I had to enlarge the screen, then had to resize to normal in order to turn the page.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted June 1, 2005
I was at the video store with my cousin. She wanted to get Eloise at the plaza. I said fine. We loved the movie so we disided to get the book. The book is so good i love to read it!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 23, 2004
Eloise is such a fun and energic kid to read about!! She way to much spunk and that's a great thing to! The whole book makes you laugh and you will enjoy trust me on this one!!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted November 23, 2003
Eloise is a six year old girl who lives at the Plaza hotel in New York City with her Nanny, her pet bulldog Weenie and her pet turtle Skiperdee. Eloise loves to rampage around in the Plaza while helping all of the staff there. She would rather run around than sit still like Nanny wishes that she would. But I guess that's just the Eloise way! Eloise has many, many friends in and out the Plaza (Bill, Prunella, Mr. Salmoneli, and Mr. Peabody to name a few) and she decides that she is the one and only person to help around the Plaza. If you are looking for a book that will give you stitches in your sides from laughing so much, then I 'rather' suggest that you buy one of the many Eloise books, if not all of them.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 23, 2001
I've read this book about a million times since I was twelve...and loved it more every time! Eloise is simply irrepresible, and just what all of us wish we'd had the courage to be as a child (or maybe even now!) Fantastic for children and adults alike (truly!), this book is one to be cherished and read again, again, again!!!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 1, 2000
Eloise is the funniest and mischeivious little 6 year old that I have ever met! She knows everyone in the plaza,and she has 2 pets that live with Eloise and her Nanny. They sing in the morning and Eloise has adventors at night. She hates school and absolutely despises her tutor. Eloise is a book for all ages!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted January 2, 2000
My mostly companion and I are 16 and still love love love little miss Eloise. This book is one of the special tokens of our friendship, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who has ever been or known a little girl. It's amazingly fun to read, and is actually totally realistic. Every step Eloise takes reminds me of myself as a first grader. This mischievous little girly can't be passed up, and if you bring her home you won't regret it! I 100% promise you that. So go on and charge it please thank you very much. The end!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted July 31, 2012
Might be okay for older girls....too long for my 3 yr old who usually sits through the longest books.
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Posted February 13, 2012
I love this book it is great
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Posted April 12, 2003
Don't you just hate to giggle at Eloise? I bet you said 'NO'! Because Eloise is just plain fun. Wacth out boys here comes a girl and she is truly nice!
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Posted May 29, 2001
Eloise lives with her nanny, dog, and turtle in The Plaza Hotel in New York City. She knows that the modern six-year-old has to keep moving in order to get the full potential for fun each day from a busy hotel . . . especially when your mother knows The Owner. Between investigating, racing, and helping, she covers The Plaza from top to bottom. And if you visit the hotel, you'll see her picture just off the lobby on the 58th Street side. Researchers constantly find that reading to children is valuable in a variety of ways, not least of which are instilling a love of reading and improved reading skills. With better parent-child bonding from reading, your child will also be more emotionally secure and able to relate better to others. Intellectual performance will expand as well. Spending time together watching television fails as a substitute. To help other parents apply this advice, as a parent of four I consulted an expert, our youngest child, and asked her to share with me her favorite books that were read to her as a young child. Eloise was one of her picks. Our daughter's mother and I often have meetings in The Plaza, and sometimes stay overnight there. On one trip, we bought this book in the gift shop and had Eloise sign it for our daughter before we left. Eloise wrote, 'Sorry I missed you Hope to see you next trip Love, Eloise' Every time we went to New York with our daughter when she was six, we looked for Eloise but we kept missing her. It was lucky that her picture was always there to greet us. After our daughter could read, we would encourage her to read this book while we were away at The Plaza. In that way, she could feel like she was with us. Then when we went on trips, we would ask her what she would like to do in the hotel. If she couldn't think of anything, we would ask her what Eloise would do. Soon, an interesting plan would develop. Eloise is a brave little girl. Her mother is always gone, and only invites her to come along when the sun is shining where her mother is. In the meantime, there's room service. Eloise is a great book for the beginning reader, because the illustrations so nicely match up with the story. In fact, when your child has a chance to visit The Plaza, she or he will be delighted to see that it is so much like the book. This makes it seem like home for your child, as well. Also, there are not too many punctuations (especially periods) so it's easy to focus on the words. The story is hilarious. Most adults wouldn't have the aplomb or the self-confidence of Eloise. For children, Eloise is a marvel . . . as well as a whimsical role model. What child will not want to have this story read and memorize it? That memorization then helps form the basics of learning to match the memory to the words. And soon, your child is reading along with you. At some point, he or she can take over and read the story aloud to you. What great fun for you both! One of my favorite qualities in the story is that Eloise is never bored. She must be allergic to ennui. Yet so often youngsters today say they are bored, like war-weary Europeans after World War I. Eloise can help turn that attitu
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted May 25, 2001
Eloise lives with her nanny, dog, and turtle in The Plaza Hotel in New York City. She knows that the modern six-year-old has to keep moving in order to get the full potential for fun each day from a busy hotel . . . especially when your mother knows The Owner. Between investigating, racing, and helping, she covers The Plaza from top to bottom. And if you visit the hotel, you'll see her picture just off the lobby on the 58th Street side. Researchers constantly find that reading to children is valuable in a variety of ways, not least of which are instilling a love of reading and improved reading skills. With better parent-child bonding from reading, your child will also be more emotionally secure and able to relate better to others. Intellectual performance will expand as well. Spending time together watching television fails as a substitute. To help other parents apply this advice, as a parent of four I consulted an expert, our youngest child, and asked her to share with me her favorite books that were read to her as a young child. Eloise was one of her picks. Our daughter's mother and I often have meetings in The Plaza, and sometimes stay overnight there. On one trip, we bought this book in the gift shop and had Eloise sign it for our daughter before we left. Eloise wrote, 'Sorry I missed you Hope to see you next trip Love, Eloise' Every time we went to New York with our daughter when she was six, we looked for Eloise but we kept missing her. It was lucky that her picture was always there to greet us. After our daughter could read, we would encourage her to read this book while we were away at The Plaza. In that way, she could feel like she was with us. Then when we went on trips, we would ask her what she would like to do in the hotel. If she couldn't think of anything, we would ask her what Eloise would do. Soon, an interesting plan would develop. Eloise is a brave little girl. Her mother is always gone, and only invites her to come along when the sun is shining where her mother is. In the meantime, there's room service. Eloise is a great book for the beginning reader, because the illustrations so nicely match up with the story. In fact, when your child has a chance to visit The Plaza, she or he will be delighted to see that it is so much like the book. This makes it seem like home for your child, as well. Also, there are not too many punctuations (especially periods) so it's easy to focus on the words. The story is hilarious. Most adults wouldn't have the aplomb or the self- confidence of Eloise. For children, Eloise is a marvel . . . as well as a whimsical role model. What child will not want to have this story read and memorize it? That memorization then helps form the basics of learning to match the memory to the words. And soon, your child is reading along with you. At some point, he or she can take over and read the story aloud to you. What great fun for you both! One of my favorite qualities in the story is that Eloise is never bored. She must be allergic to ennui. Yet so often youngsters today say they are bored, like war-weary Europeans after World War I. Eloise can help turn that attitude around into more active channels. No television addict is she! After Eloise has been adopted as a niece into your family, I suggest that you use Eloise's story as a starting point to help your child understand herself or himself better. Why is Eloise so happy in The Plaza? Would your child like to live in The Plaza? Why is Eloise never bored? Donald Mitchell, co-author of The Irresistible Growth Enterprise and The 2,000 Percent Solution
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Posted August 28, 2000
This book was a riot and a refreshing look from the eyes of a six year old wonder. The illustrations are also vibrant and eye capturing. I love childrens' books and this one takes the cake. I loved it and recommend it for all ages!!!!
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Posted March 23, 2010
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Posted December 29, 2012
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Posted March 1, 2010
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Posted August 13, 2009
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Posted November 9, 2009
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Overview
Eloise is a little girl who lives at The Plaza Hotel in New York. She is not yet pretty but she is already a Person.
Henry James would want to study her.
Queen Victoria would recognize her as an Equal.
The New York Jets would want to have...