Eloise and the Very Secret Room (Ready-to-Read Series Level 1) »

Kay Thompson (1909-1998) was a singer, dancer, vocal arranger, and coach of many MGM musicals in the 1940s.

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 four more Eloise books, Eloise in Paris, Eloise at Christmas, Eloise in Moscow, and Eloise Takes a Bawth.

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 illustrated more than fifty books for children, six of which he wrote himself.

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

Ellen Weiss has written hundreds of books for kids of all ages. She lives in New York City and the Berkshires.

Eloise can go wherever she wants in The Plaza Hotel, but her favorite place is a secret room. Here she can do whatever she wants!

Children's Literature

Eloise, a character created by Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight, lives for another generation of kids. It is hard to imagine growing up living on the top floor of a hotel and having a nanny as your adult companion, but that is the life Eloise lives. In this "Ready-to-Read" Level 1 book, she has discovered a secret room in the hotel, or at least one that she believes is a secret. It is the lost and found storage room, and she has a great time playing with all of the clothing that hotel guests have left behind. Ties make great jumping ropes, fur coats are great to sleep on, and then there are hats—lots and lots of hats. Her not-so-secret hideaway is discovered with her in it, and off she goes back to her penthouse suite with the ever faithful and not very stern Nanny.