Eloise

Eloise is Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight's 1955 picture book about a six-year-old girl living at New York's Plaza Hotel. Netflix's Tudum reports that Amy Sherman-Palladino's new live-action film is based on the Eloise books, and Simon & Schuster lists the hardcover edition with ISBN 9780671223502.

The book is short, noisy, and odd in the best way. It is less a tidy plot than a performance: Eloise moves through the Plaza as if every hallway, elevator, guest, pet, and grown-up exists inside her private theater.

Read it before the film if you want the original rhythm of the character. Skip it if you need a gentle bedtime story with a quiet child and a clear lesson.

Eloise is six, lives at the Plaza, and treats every rule as something to test.

Nanny is the adult presence trying to keep Eloise's world from spinning entirely loose.

Weenie and Skipperdee are Eloise's dog and turtle, part companions and part accessories to her chaos.

The Plaza staff and guests become the book's moving scenery.

No. 1 - Current Netflix route. Tudum identifies the new film as based on Thompson and Knight's book series.

No. 2 - Distinct voice. The point is not plot density. It is Eloise's unstoppable way of talking and moving.

No. 3 - Family-film bridge. It gives bibliotecas a children's screen-adaptation guide without turning the page into a movie preview.

Read this if you are...

• Curious about the books behind Netflix's upcoming Eloise film.
• Reading with a child who likes mischievous, high-energy characters.
• Interested in picture books with a strong comic voice.
• Looking for a New York children's classic that still feels strange.

Skip it if you are...

• Wanting a calm bedtime book.
• Avoiding bratty or rule-breaking child characters.
• Looking for a plot-heavy chapter book.
• Expecting the new film's story to be already present in full.

• Read it aloud. Eloise works best as a voice, not as silent plot summary.
• Look at the hotel. Hilary Knight's drawings carry much of the joke.
• Do not over-moralize her. The book is more comic performance than lesson.
• Keep the film separate. Netflix describes the movie as an original adventure based on the books.

• E. B. White - Charlotte's Web. For a gentler children's classic with screen history.
• Cressida Cowell - How to Train Your Dragon. For another child-friendly source with a large adaptation path.
• J. M. Barrie - Peter Pan. For a classic child character who resists ordinary rules.
• Tim Federle - Better Nate Than Ever. For performance-loving kids and a Disney+ screen route.
• Sharon M. Draper - Out of My Mind. For another children's adaptation guide with a strong central voice.

1. Is Eloise charming, exhausting, or both?
2. How do the drawings change the way you read her voice?
3. Why does the Plaza feel like a character?
4. What should a new film keep from the book?
5. What would not translate well to a modern movie?
6. Does the book need a moral?
7. How does Eloise use grown-ups as an audience?
8. Who is the best reader for this book today?