The Absolutely Essential Eloise
Thompson, Kay
Drawings by Hilary Knight
Scrapbook written by Marie Brenner
New York, Simon and Schuster, 1999
65 pages, book, 18 pages scrapbook; illustrated; 29 cm.
Library of Congress Catalog Number - 98-89833
ISBN - 0-689-82703-2
Published May 1, 1999
Publish price $19.95

Summary from the endpapers of the book

Here is everything
you need to know about

      Eloise

(the enormously famous little girl
who lives at the Plaza Hotel)
because in the front of this book
we have printed
the original Eloise story & pictures
and in the back of it there are
sketches that nobody has seen before
by Mr. Hilary Knight (the Artist)
and photographs of Miss Thompson
when she was young and fabulous
rawther like Eloise
and absolutely loads of information
that you simply
cawn't cawn't cawn't get anywhere else.
Here's the thing:
whether you are just about to fall in love
with Eloise or you already adore her
you ought to have this book.
(Charge it please and
thank you very much.)

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 three more Eloise books, Eloise in Paris, Eloise at Christmastime, and Eloise in Moscow, all of which are now to be reissued by Simon and Schuster.

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 ilustrated over fifty books for children, six of which he wrote himself.

He lives and works in New York City, not far from the Plaza Hotel.

Marie Brenner, Writer-at-Large for Vanity Fair Magazine, has written extensively on Kay Thompson. Her latest book, On the Border, will be published in fall 1999.

The Press
(newspapers for Lord's sake)
Eloise is one of the most recognizable characters in children's literature.
The New York Times

Edward I. Koch
(New York mayor!!!)
Eloise is one of the more delightfully fiendish literary heroines of our time.

Judy Blume
(lovely author)
Ooooooo. . . . I just love Eloise! Thank you, Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight. You're the bestest.

Carrie Donovan
(fabulous fashion celebrity)
Imagine! Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight having the wit - the imagination, the style!!! - to invent Eloise.

Maurice Sendak
(enormously famous artist)
My first happy response to Eloise was entirely due to the brilliant, iconic images. That brazen, loose-limbed, delicious little girl monster is Hilary Knight at his best.

Nina Totenberg
(rawther important radio lady)
Eloise is a model for uppity women.

Lena Horne
(movie star)
Eloise, Kay and Hilary have been in my life always. And her pug puppy is in my heart. What memories!