The Plaza Hotel is under renovation and "Eloise" is off on an extended vacation, leaving the New York market for poor little rich kids in realty-themed children's literature wide open. Head downtown, where you'll find not one but two such characters - of the canine variety.
"Jacques et Jill" follows a pair of Chihuahuas who fall in love - in Soho as well as with Soho and its hotspots: Balthazar, Moss, Dean & DeLuca. "Loaded with sexual innuendo," The Times notes, it's "a bedtime story for spoiled, grown-up kids." It's also a stunt by hotelier Andre Balazs and co. to get visions of their condo tower at 40 Mercer dancing like sugarplums in buyers' heads. Not sure if or where this book is available to the unwashed masses. And who is this illustrator Girard Nicolas? Was Maurice Sendak busy or something?
· Jack and Jill Went Up the Private Elevator [NYT]
· 40 Mercer Construction Update: Luxurious Concrete [Curbed]