Eloise, a spunky six year-old who lives at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, is
as delightful on screen as she is in her books. In Eloise in Springtime, Eloise's dear nanny takes a personal
vacation, leaving Eloise in the care of a 22 year-old girl named Nicole. Eloise deals with some difficult emotions, such as jealousy
and guilt, but she also learns
what it means to be a true friend, how to take responsibility for her actions,
and she even learns a little about love. Bonus features available on the DVD
include coloring pages and a Spanish language feature.
As always, there are many lessons to be learned from
Eloise. For instance, she is
initially very excited about how hip and cool her temporary young nanny is,
however, once Nicole starts getting more attention from Eloise's favorite
people (her pets and her friend, Bill, the bellhop) she begins experiencing
jealousy. She decides to lie to Nicole about Bill, but her
lie ends up hurting everyone involved.
Eloise realizes she has made a mistake and feels horribly guilty. Upon
returning, Nanny helps Eloise decide that the best way to address the problem
she's caused is to apologize face-to-face to those she hurt and tell the
whole truth. These are wonderful lessons to stress to your little one, as these are
feelings everyone can relate to. It's important to show your child that not telling the truth will
cause more damage, and that jealousy is a normal but manageable behavior.
My niece Emily first watched this DVD when she was four
years old. She thought the 'Welcome to Springtime' Party that Eloise's temporary nanny, Nicole, threw
looked "boring, because there were too many adults and not enough kids." I asked
Emily what she liked best about the movie, and her response was, "Nicole is
like a really cool big sister. That is what I'm going to be too."
--Audra
