'Kay Thompson's Eloise' by Kay Thompson, illustrated by Hilary Knight

Thompson, Kay.  1955.  Kay Thompson's Eloise.  Ill. by Hilary Knight.  New York: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers.  ISBN978671223502.

Kay Thompson's Eloise, more commonly known as simply Eloise, chronicles a day in the life of the eponymous titular character.  Eloise is a six year-old girl that lives in a penthouse at the Plaza Hotel in New York City with her nanny, dog Weenie, and turtle Skipperdee.  Eloise spends her day running around the hotel, stopping in at weddings, meeting rooms, ballrooms, and other areas of the Plaza.

Photo by: L. Propes

Eloise reminds me of animated films and television shows that may not necessarily be for children, despite the format.  A subtitle of the book calls it, "A book for precocious grown-ups about a little girl who lives at the Plaza Hotel".  Children will enjoy the descriptions of Eloise's unfettered adventures in the hotel and the fact that for all the trouble she can cause, Eloise never seems to get into any trouble, nor face any consequences -- truly a child's dream!  Adults might raise a slightly censorious eyebrow at Eloise's need to poke her nose in everybody's business and crash weddings and parties.  As cited in Thompson's obituary, Publishers Weekly in 1957 called Eloise an, "
...overprivileged 6-year-old, the terror of the Hotel Plaza in New York. She is also ill-mannered, ill-tempered and ugly. But she has her charm. She often means well, and her mother neglects her. Even though you know that you would do the same thing if she were yours, you can't help finding this appealing" (Pace 1998).  Even back then, readers were certainly aware of the dichotomy in Eloise's character -- simultaneously wanting to chide Eloise and hug her.

According to a New York Times article, Thompson intended Eloise to be meant for adults, the picture book format notwithstanding (D'Erasmo 2002).  She once even went so far as to re-shelve copies of Eloise from the children's section of a bookstore to the adult fiction section (D'Erasmo 2002).  Children in the 1950s might not have noticed Eloise's absent mother and never-mentioned father, but today's child could make a comment about it.  In her review of The Absolutely Essential Edition of Eloise, Sarah Ferrell commends Thompson for turning the traditional "poor little rich girl" narrative on its head.  There is nothing poor or little about Eloise.

Thompson gives Eloise a voice anyone familiar with a six-year old child will recognize.  It rambles in an unpunctuated, stream-of-consciousness trickle down the page.  Eloise, like most children, makes up words that onomatopoetically describe their actions much more effectively than the usual terms.  She is irreverent, sure of herself, and -- dare I say? -- delightfully imaginative.  All these qualities shine through in Thompson's text and Knight's illustrations.

Knight's drawings depict Eloise as a slightly chubby girl, with flyaway hair and a smile that hovers between a grin of genuine humor and a satisfied smirk.  The drawings are black-and-white with touches of red or pink in the bow in Eloise's hair or the scrawled drawings on her bedroom walls.  The drawings themselves are not detailed to the point of realism, but Knight evokes the opulence of the Plaza by choosing to focus on a few details, like the palm fronds of a cafe, the suggestion of a chandelier in a ballroom, or the windows and frescoes of a room hosting a wedding.  Knight provides a sketch for each of Eloise's adventures, and anything more detailed would detract from the text.  He even allows the reader to view Eloise's imaginative flights of fancy with simple, red outlines of the characters that inhabit Eloise's imagination.

Unlike many children's book authors and illustrators, Thompson and Knight collaborated on this and four additional books: Eloise in Paris, Eloise in Moscow, Eloise at Christmas, and Eloise Takes a Bawth.  If you're willing to part with a significant amount of money, the Plaza Hotel offers Eloise-themed birthday parties and an Eloise-themed suite.

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Works Cited:

D'Erasmo, Stacey. Little grown-ups live here. in The New York Times [database online]. 2002 [cited January 14 2014]. Available from http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/06/magazine/06ELOISE.html?pagewanted=1.

Ferrell, Sarah. Hints from eloise. in The New York Times [database online]. 1999 [cited January 14 2014]. Available from http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/05/16/reviews/990516.16ferrelt.html.

Pace, Eric. Kay thompson, author of 'eloise' books dies. in The New York Times [database online]. 1998 [cited January 14 2014]. Available from http://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/07/arts/kay-thompson-author-of-eloise-books-dies.html.