Eloise in Moscow

Those familiar with the rampaging six-year old with a charge account, an unflappable Nanny and a fat pug dog named Weenie will not be surprised that Eloise can travel through Russia as easily as she does New York. Looked at in the light of post-Cold ... Read more

Those familiar with the rampaging six-year old with a charge account, an unflappable Nanny and a fat pug dog named Weenie will not be surprised that Eloise can travel through Russia as easily as she does New York. Looked at in the light of post-Cold War sensibilities, this book is a marvelous artifact of Communist paranoia and American self-satisfaction.

Stolid comrades in fur hats frown and stare as Eloise and Nanny pass by, people they don't know go over every inch of their hotel room and a shadowy man follows them throughout the book. Eloise, of course, is perfectly fluent in Russian but prefers to let everyone think she doesn't understand.

The black and white illustrations are only tinged with a buttercup yellow that, strangely, gives no warmth, but instead emphasizes the chilliness of Hilary Knight's spectacular renderings of Moscow. The only exception is a spectacular centre foldout of Red Square, which is dotted with commentary from Zhenk, footprints and several little Eloises and Eloise outlines:"I was an angel all over the Kremlin." Eloise sums up the tour thusly:

Here's what they
have in the Kremlin
armour
Easter eggs
icons
and clocks.

After performing a lovely pas de deux with the pigeons at the Bolshoi and riding her tricycle on the Baltic Sea, Eloise gets a good report from the spy who has been following her: no international repercussions will result from her visit. They pack up to go home and say "Dasvidanya which is see you later." Less