Press Release - Wednesday, September 03, 2008
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First Lady Patricia Blagojevich announces September selection for Children's Reading Club as Eloise
CHICAGO - First Lady Patricia Blagojevich today announced September selection for her Children's Reading Club - Eloise by Kay Thompson, illustrated by Hilary Knight. This month's selection tells the story of the adventures of Eloise, a little girl who lives at The Plaza Hotel in New York.
"Reading with your children is one of the best ways to spend quality time with them while helping them develop critical skills like building a good vocabulary and active listening," said the First Lady. "Reading with my daughters is one of my favorite things to do and I hope that more parents can take part in reading to and with their own children."
The Eloise character grew out of the voice of a precocious six-year-old that Miss Thompson put on to amuse her friends.
Kay Thompson was a singer, dancer, vocal arranger, and coach of many MGM musicals in the 1940s. Collaborating with Hilary Knight on what was an immediate bestseller, she 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 & Schuster.
The First Lady launched the Children's Reading Club literacy initiative in March of 2005, to encourage parents to read with their children. The club is a recommended reading list made up of books the First Lady and her daughters enjoy at home. The Children's Reading Club applies to all children, but specifically targets children between the ages of seven and twelve. Each month's book selection is featured on the First Lady's website, http://www.illinois.gov/firstlady.
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