Eloise by Kay Thompson, illustrated by Hilary Knight61 pages
Published April 1969 by Simon and Schuster's Childrens
Source: my daughter
I feel a little bit like I cheated reading this for the read-a-thon but it counts for the You've Got Mail Challenge and I needed a quick read to sandwich in between other books during the read-a-thon.
Eloise is a six-year-old who lives in The Plaza hotel with Nanny; her dog that looks like a cat, Weenie, and her turtle, Skipperdee. To say that Eloise is a handful is an understatement. Eloise loves, loves, loves to ride the elevators and order room service. She simply cawn't, cawn't, cawn't go a day without adjusting the hotel's thermostats, or pulling out the fire houses, or opening all of the packages in the Package Room in search of one that might be for her. If she were you child, you'd be pulling your hair out. But since she's not, she's adorable.
Thompson captures the voice of a precocious six-year-old marvelously. Eloise skidders sticks along the wall, slomps in her skates and skibbles out of bed in the morning. As wonderful as the writing is, I can't imagine that Eloise would have been quite the success that it's been without Knight's drawings. We've got several of the Eloise books--they're on the shelf of books that I just have to keep in the hopes that someday I'll be able to snuggle up with a grand-daughter and Eloise.
