Elbo Elf [Hardcover]

Joe Burke (Author), Ralph Romano (Author)

Book Description

The book is a beautiful story about one of Santa's elves, who has four arms. Elbo is uncoordinated and messes up everything he tries so hard to do.

Thru prayer and an attitude of never giving up he becomes "The Package Master Of Christmas".

The book has an enclosed CD which children can follow and sing along with, eight new Christmas songs

This heartwarming story is for all children from 3-93.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Every mother would be proud to have their child read Elbo Elf" -- Deliah radio talk host

"This is one of the finest children's literary works that I have ever seen." -- Literary agent Houston Texas

Elbo Elf is unique, charming story of how an elf with 4 arms wraps presents, like we wish we had. -- American Literary Press

The language is energetic and colorfull. -- Lima News

From the Publisher

Elbo Elf Inc. has signed a contract with the Jim Henson Company to produce a motion picture of Elbo. The Henson company producers of the Muppets had the vision to bring Elbo to life through the big screen. Henson believes that Elbo will become a standard part of Christmas,

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 26 pages
• Publisher: Elbo Elf (June 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970412517
• ISBN-13: 978-0970412515
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,829,609 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars The Elbo Elf History By The Author, December 15, 2008

By 

Joseph L. Burke "Paper Tiger" (Bradenton FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Elbo Elf (Hardcover)

I, Joe Burke, am the principal author of Elbo Elf. The idea behind this story was a simple one. I was aware that Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer had (at that time) 167 products licensed as well as the original song and thus that author made tons of money. My idea was to replicate that success by doing a musical Christmas movie with EIGHT songs (hopefully making 8 times the Rudolph loot). I got a musical partner, Ralph Romano. I created the character and the plot. I wrote the words and music to three of the eight songs. I wrote the lyrics to seven of the eight songs. Ralph wrote the music to four songs and both words and music to one song. I wrote the movie script. We could not find enough money to make a movie, so I rewrote the script for sound (an LP record at the time). Ralph functioned as a producer and assembled a team to make the recording of Elbo Elf.
Pete DeAngelis (formerly director of ABC network) arranged and conducted a full orchestra. Artist Chic Laganella designed the album cover from my sketches. I directed Souply Sales as the story's narrator and we had New York actors and singers as well as a sound effects expert to complete the ensemble. We recorded at Bell Sound in New York.
Although we successfuly completed the Christmas album titled "Elbo Elf," we soon discovered that we could not get record distribution unless we gave most of the earnings to some recording company, At that point we we stymied.
Years later, someone from The Henson Company (Muppets) heard the recording and optioned it for a movie. The Hensons paid for the option for three years and then dropped it. I am told that, instead of using the original story and songs, the Henson writers wrote a whole new story for the character. There is little-to-no value in Elbo Elf unless the original concept, characters, and songs are intact.
Ralph and I hold the copyright but we allowed Ralph's brother, Tom, to publish the "book" now advertised on Amazon. All the book does is print excerpts from my audio script. The book redefined the "look" of Elbo Elf because Tom got less expensive illustrations, etc, by using a Hong Kong publisher. Our original album cover appears on Amazon's "hardcover" advertisement of Elbo Elf.
My Elbo Elf is still worth billions if made into a movie BECAUSE (1)it is a solid piece of work which needs only a little update, (2) it will "play" for 50 years every Christmas just like Rudolph has, (3) it is about Christmas, brotherhood, Santa, etc, AND it is very entertaining for children of all ages.

5.0 out of 5 stars Kids LOVE this story!, November 7, 2001

By 

Michelle Romano "Michelle Romano" (San Antonio, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elbo Elf (Hardcover)

The Elbo Elf story is funny, heart-warming and happy with a strong moral ending. It stresses never losing "faith in what you can do." The songs are wonderful; you'll be singing along with them in no time! Great gift for kids of all ages!