Eleanor, Ellatony, Ellencake, and Me

by C.M. Rubin, Christopher Fowler (Illustrator)

Eleanor, Ellatony, Ellencake and Me
Everyone in Eleanor's family thinks they have the perfect nickname for her. Nana thinks "Eleanor" is boring and insists on calling her "Elle," her perfect "mademoiselle." Papa wants to call her "Punch," his favorite "crunch." Dad insists on naming her "Eleanora, the movie star with so much mora." Even Mom gets into the act, shortening her name until it's just one letter--E Finally, Eleanor realizes that the only person who can come up with the perfect nickname is the one who is going to use it--herself This endearing story, told in clever and humorous rhyme, offer a unique insight into how one spunky kid relies on her sense of self to solve her problem.
A clever story about identity and the power of names, as told by Eleanor, out spunkiest heroine.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Family

32 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2003

About the author

C. M. Rubin (aka Cathy Rubin) is an author of children's books, non-fiction books and a producer of factual films. Born in Guyana and educated in various countries of Africa, the Middle East, and the UK, she began her career in London at ACC (ITC Film Distributors) and EMI Films before moving to Columbia Tri-star. She has more than two decades experience in development, marketing, and art direction for a diverse range of media businesses.

Ms. Rubin's children's books are the subject of critical acclaim, having won numerous book awards, including: the iParenting Media Award, Children's Choices Award 2004, Teacher's Choices Award 2004, and Bronze Gold Ink Award 2004. Her works have appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines around the world including the New York Times, Parent Magazine, Vogue Magazine, and Entertainment Weekly. In addition, she has been a featured guest on national radio and television shows both in the US and the UK. She is also a frequent contributor to the Huffington Post.

She lives with her husband, two children and their dog in New York City.

Reviews

[Dolly]

This is a fun story about the nicknames we get, especially if our name is longer than one or two syllables.

The illustration combine some realistic depictions of people's faces with some cartoonish images that remind me of Robin Preiss Glasser's work in Fancy Nancy.

Overall, it's a fun, fast read and I enjoyed it. Without spoiling the ending, I really liked the name she settles on since it's my sister-in-law's nickname too.

interesting quote:

"Aunt Bertie seems to understand how things can get way out of hand when grown-ups take a name too far and leave you wondering who you are." (p. 22 - unpaged)

[Kailey Patterson]

Eleanor, Ellatony, Ellencake and Me is a clever story told as a rhyme about how Eleonore’s family all think they have the most perfect nickname for her. Her Nana insists on calling her “Elle”, her papa wants to call her “Punch”, her father wants to call her “Eleanora, the movie star with so much mora” and her mother likes to keep it short and simple and call her “E”. Eleanor finally realizes the only person that will come up with the best nickname for herself, is her, herself! The major themes of this story would be self-identity, and knowledge of self. I loved this picture book when I was a kid. The whole book is a rhyme which makes it such an exciting book to read. The illustrations add so much life to the story as well and I used to love looking at the details of the pictures. I recommend this book because it’s such a sweet story that has to do with relatable a topic. Nicknames are common and children could find this book relatable and enjoyable connecting it to nicknames they have.

[Ellie]

As a child, this was my absolute favorite book. From front to back, I had the entire thing memorized. Well, I'm sure my affection for the book was half due to the fact that my name is Eleanor, and I go by Ellie. :)

While the author was promoting her second book, Ellie: The Perfect Dress for Me, my mom took me to meet her! I felt soo out of place when I saw that everyone was in pretty dresses and there I was in my sweaty soccer uniform, but Mrs. Rubin was very nice; she chatted with me and we drew a picture together. It was all very sweet and now a treasured memory.

Should you have a child named Eleanor, or any variation of it, then I highly recommend you share this with her!

[Stephanie Cunningham]

Eleanor, Ellatony, Ellencake, and Me is a story about a little girl names Eleanor whose family members all think they have the best nickname for her. Her mom, dad, nana, and papa all give their input on what they want her to have as her nickname, but Eleanor does not like these nicknames. Eventually Eleanor realizes she is the only one who can come up with the perfect nickname for herself.
I thought this was a really liked reading this book because it reminds me a lot of myself and how I don’t like most of the nicknames people have come up with for me. I also thought the illustrations were really cute. I would use this book in a classroom to read during story time, or just to have for students to read during free reading time. I think this book would be good to use when talking to students about identity

[jyweniverel]

Everyone has a different name for Eleanor, but she’s the one who decides what she wants to be called.
A cute book about choosing a nickname.

[Lavinia]

My fave and most memorable book from my childhood ❤️ Elle is partly to blame for making me the adamant woman I am today 😌

[Connie Ehrnschwender]

Each of us has the right to discover who we truly are.

[Lori]

We enjoyed this several times over in honor of Eleanor!

[Stephanie]

Super cute!

[Brindi Michele]

perfect for individuality, names, and careers. too long for PSST