Eloise

 

Eloise

by Kay Thompson 

 

1. Bibliography 

Thompson, K. (2015). Eloise. Ill. By Hilary Knight. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9780671223502 

 

2. Plot Review 

This classic picture book is about a six-year-old girl who is remarkably busy every day and lives at the Plaza Hotel. She begins her day with room service then spends her day riding up and down the elevator, visiting the different rooms in the hotel, and visiting the different employees. She likes to interact with the hotel guests if they are not boring. She has learned to entertain herself and has quite the imagination. Her day ends with room service and her Nanny preparing her for bed. At bedtime, Eloise begins to make plans for how she will spend the next day, because she is a busy six-year-old who is on her own to do as she pleases. 

3. Critical Review 

Kay Thompson has authored this book from the point of view of a young six-year-old girl. Thompson has captured the voice of the young girl with the tone and attitude of an adult. As a person reads the story, they can hear the grown-up tone of Eloise “for Lord’s sake” as she calls for room service and visits the adult employees of the hotel. The author pokes fun at the adults in the story through the innocent eyes of a child. Eloise’s imagination is highly creative and worldly to say the least.  

The drawings in the book are black and white. Although the illustrator, Hilary Knight, does use some red and pink colors in the drawings to add contrast, the pink drawings specifically in the story often reveal Eloise’s imagination. So, as the reader reads the story, we see her imagination at work and begin to understand the creativity of the young girl and how she keeps herself entertained in a world of adults each day in the Plaza Hotel. 

4. Review Excerpts 

• Horn Book Guide Reviews: The classic tale of the little girl who makes merry mayhem from her digs on the top floor of New York's Plaza Hotel. 

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• Indies Choice Book Award: Picture Book Hall of Fame Selection, 2016 

 

 

5. Connections 

• Discussion questions after reading Eloise. Would you like to live in a hotel? Do you think it is safe to ride up and down elevators by yourself with people you do not know? What about running up and down the stairs by yourself? Would you stay in your apartment or explore the hotel? 

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• Since there is no punctuation in the story and some sentences could be re-written, students could practice daily grammar editing with pages from the book.  

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• Research the Plaza Hotel in New York City and create a map to show the places Eloise visited during the day.  

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• Click on the following link for an Eloise Activity Kit . This kit has pages with different activities for children to complete. Children can look at illustrations of Eloise and create stories of their own. There is even a recipe for baking oatmeal raisin cookies.