The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition (ISBN-13: 978-0-9769907-9-6) is a children’s picture book written by American mother-daughter duo Carol Aebersold and Chanda Bell, and illustrated by Coë Steinwart. Self-published by CCA and B Publishing, based out of Marietta, GA in 2005, The Elf on the Shelf comes in a keepsake box that features the hardbound book and a small, pixie scout elf. Written in rhyme with accompanying watercolor illustrations, this Christmas story is the tale of how Santa knows who is naughty and nice. The tradition of The Elf on the Shelf usually begins around Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...

 and lasts until Christmas Eve, when the elves return to the North Pole

North Pole

The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...

 until the next holiday season. The book spent time as the number one best-seller at Barnes and Noble's website.

The Plot

Every day from Thanksgiving until Christmas Eve, each family's scout elf watches over the children and then at night, once everyone goes to bed, the elf flies back to the North Pole to report back to Santa about what activities, good and bad, took place throughout the day. Before the family wakes up each morning, the scout elf flies back from the North Pole and hides. By hiding in a new spot each morning around the house, the scout elf and the family play an on-going game of hide and seek. The Elf on the Shelf explains that elves get their magic by being named. In the back of each book, families have an opportunity to write their elf's name and the date that they adopted it. Once the elf is named, the scout elf receives its special Christmas magic which allows it to fly to and from the North Pole. However, the magic might go if touched, so the rule for The Elf on the Shelf states: "There's only one rule that you have to follow so I will come back and be here tomorrow: Please do not touch me. My magic might go, and Santa won't hear all I've seen or I know." Although families aren't supposed to touch their scout elf, they can talk to it and tell it all their Christmas wishes so it can report back to Santa accurately.

Success

After sending out The Elf on the Shelf to major publishing houses, only to receive rejection letter after rejection letter, Aebersold and Bell decided to self-publish. They created CCA and B, which stands for Creatively Classic Activities and Books, alongside Bell's twin sister, Christa Pitts. Starting with only 300 copies of The Elf on the Shelf, CCA and B has since sold over 1.5 million copies.

External links

• "Elf Esteem". New York Times. December 3, 2009
• "How a Self-published Book Became a Best-Seller". Book Business. December 2009
• "Book Buzz". USA Today. December 14, 2009