Eloise (books)

Eloise

Logo for the Eloise series of books
Author	Kay Thompson
Illustrator	Hilary Knight
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Humour Children's
Publisher	Simon & Schuster
Publication date	1955

Eloise is a series of children's books written in the 1950s by Kay Thompson (1909–1998) and illustrated by Hilary Knight (b. 1926). Thompson and Knight followed up Eloise (1955) with four sequels.

Eloise is a girl who lives in the "room on the tippy-top floor" of the Plaza Hotel in New York City with her Nanny, her pug dog Weenie, and her turtle Skipperdee.

Thompson's goddaughter, Liza Minnelli, has been cited as a possible model for Eloise, as has the author herself. The illustrator said that the image for Eloise was based on a painting that his mother, Katherine Sturges Dodge, did in the 1930s.

Other modern Eloise titles released by Simon & Schuster include Eloise's Guide to Life (2000), Eloise at Christmas (2003), Eloise's What I Absolutely Love Love Love (2005) and Love & Kisses, Eloise (2005). The same publisher began producing Eloise stories "in the style of Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight" to their early-reader Ready-to-Reads line in 2005. By 2007, 11 titles had been released in that line.

Thompson's time on the set of the 1957 musical film Funny Face inspired a new Eloise cartoon — Eloise in Hollywood (2006).

Bernadette Peters narrates a new collection of three Eloise stories — '"Eloise," "Eloise in Paris" and "Eloise in Moscow", released by Simon & Schuster Audio in October 2015. They are available in audiobook and CD and book.

In 2003, two made-for-TV movies based on the first two books were made by Walt Disney Television, titled Eloise at the Plaza and Eloise at Christmastime, starring Sofia Vassilieva as Eloise and Julie Andrews as Nanny. In 2006, an animated television series based on the characters of the books, premiered on Starz! Kids & Family, featuring Mary Matilyn Mouser as Eloise and Lynn Redgrave as Nanny.