by Kevin Clash, Gary Brozek
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Product Description
Meet Kevin Clash, the man behind the Muppet and the unassuming heart and soul of Elmo. At last, the puppeteer who has performed Elmo for nearly twenty years comes out from behind the stage to share his story. Weaving together his memories of growing up with the life lessons gained from his furry red alter ego, Kevin reveals himself to be as caring, and as eager to grow and learn and love, as the very special character he brings to life.
You will discover how young Kevin honed his talent entertaining the kids in his mother’s home day care with puppets he made from slippers and coat liners; how, as a struggling young artist, he realized his dream to meet and then work for his idol, Muppet creator Jim Henson; and how each and every day of performing Elmo reinforces for him what is most important in life.
As Kevin has been inspired by Elmo, now we can all learn from his furry red ways. Kevin’s (and Elmo’s) thoughts on love, creativity, friendship, and optimism remind us of life’s simple truths and ultimately encourage us all to be a little bit more like Elmo–to live with joy, to love more easily, and to laugh more often.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 This book is adorable and has some great teachings too!, 2008-08-24
I really liked this book. Within the biographical anecdotes of Kevin Clash there are plenty of thought provoking lessons. Much like the Muppets or Sesame Street Shows. And it does remind one of how being young and free was like. I'm going to be a little more childlike from now on :)
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Fantastic, 2008-08-03
As the mother of an Elmo-crazy toddler, I became intrigued with the little red guy and started looking on You-Tube for interviews with his puppeteer. I found him to be hysterically funny and never willing to comprimise Elmo's status as a "3 and a half year old" to get laughs on any adult talk shows, like some performers might. I bought this book and now I am a true fan. Kevin Clash is smart, funny, and devoted to children. You'll laugh, you'll cry (if you get through the story about him singing "Sing" to a young terminally ill girl without tears running down your face, then you're a Vulcan), you'll love Elmo just as much as your kids do! Very refreshing to have a role model like this. Thanks for the outstanding work, Kevin. Now, how can my kid meet you and Elmo???
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
what an uplifting story, 2007-12-07
I absolutely love this book. If you are feeling a bit down just pick up this book and you'll have a smile on your face within minutes.
Its just so positive, impossible not to love this book and off course our furry friend Elmo.
Thanks Kevin for giving us Elmo and this book.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
My Life as a Furry Red Monster, 2007-07-18
Elmo. He's cute, he's furry, and for years he's been teaching the world to ask questions, to be creative, and to love with a pure heart. Odd but I never really thought about an actual person "being" Elmo.
My Life as a Furry Red Monster is written by Kevin Clash, the voice and puppeteer behind that furry red smile. In hearing his story, you understand that Elmo is merely an extension of the way this man tries to live his life. Kevin grew up in a household full of love where creativity was encouraged. At a very early age, he made all sorts of puppets. His shyness magically disappeared when he was entertaining others with his creativity. His greatest wish was to join the team at Sesame Street which took a lot of perseverance and hard work.
I may have picked up this book because Elmo was on the cover but Kevin's story will stick with me. It reminded me that dreams can come true.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Furry Red Monster, 2007-04-22
I am, at heart, a child. A bitter, sarcastic child, yes, but a child nonetheless. I love animation. I like playing in the dirt. I adore the Muppets. I have absorbed Muppet trivia and information like a sponge. You tell me the Muppet (even a vague description) and I can spout back the puppet's name, puppeteer, and filmography. It was precisely for this reason that I finally picked up the autobiography of Muppeteer Kevin Clash, the voice of Elmo.
Born and raised outside of Baltimore, Clash grew up building puppets out of his mother's slippers and the lining of his father's Sunday coats. By the age of 12, he was making money as a puppeteer, and by the time he was a teenager, he and his puppets were regulars on a local television show. By the time he was 19, he had established a career as a puppeteer with the Captain Kangaroo show and another one of my perennial favorites, The Great Space Coaster. Shortly thereafter, Clash found himself in the dream job of his youth as a Muppeteer with the great Jim Henson companies.
The birth of Elmo was one of those happy flukes. Fellow muppeteer Richard Hunt, who passed away in 1994, flung a random puppet, then known as `Baby Monster' to Clash and said, "Give it a voice, Clash." Since then, Elmo, as he was eventually renamed, has become a world-wide phenomenon.
In My Life as a Furry Red Monster, Clash and his co-author take a rather unusual approach to the re-telling of Clash's life story and the story behind perhaps the most popular puppet in television history. Instead of a chronological retelling of his life history, Clash opts instead to divide the chapters into life lessons such as tolerance, friends, and joy. Using stories from his early childhood, his life as Elmo, and from Elmo's point of view, Clash illustrates the importance of these aspects of life.
In some ways, this unique approach works. One can see, particularly in Clash's retelling of events that have happened to him as the voice of Elmo, how one small three and a half year old with a hyper-active imagination and an unlimited capacity to love has changed the world and improved it for so many.
This is not, however, a history lesson in Elmo and the Muppets. The facts and behind-the-scenes tidbits that are so tantalizing and fascinating to a reader such as myself are in very short supply, and entirely out of order. We read about the death of Muppet creator Jim Henson within the first paragraph. We never really learn anything in-depth about Clash's induction into the Muppet hall-of-fame or how he progressed from muppeteer-in-training to director, producer, and muppeteer-in-training trainer.
The writing is very accessible and engaging; the voice, personal. However, it is difficult to follow the though path of Clash and his co-writer due to some very unusual stream-of-consciousness thought paths that have Clash in one paragraph recounting his childhood, the next paragraph preaching about a topic, and then immediately back to the Sesame Street studios. It's a short work, coming in at just over 200 half-sized pages, and when all is said and done, I felt rather unfulfilled by my experience.
I also had a small complaint about the form factor of the book. Instead of being a standard size, the book was printed in an unusual 6.7" x 5.9" form factor, which makes holding the book open with one hand a difficult process. I found my hand cramping after just a few minutes holding the book open.
Clash does do one job well, however, and that's relating Elmo's experiences to those faced by adults and the world in general. Clash relates particularly touching experiences, including the introduction of Elmo to a group of small school children in the newly apartheid-free South Africa in preparation for the release of a South African version of Sesame Street and his experiences in New Orleans following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. It's easy to see how, in Elmo's life, the ability to distribute love freely has resulted in love being returned to him ten-fold--and the difference that has made in the lives of countless children and adults.
Toward the end of the book, Clash writes
"We go to school to learn--from out instructors, from our books, from each other. And at some point, we begin to listen to another teacher: our dreams. We think about what could be, what might happen once we're all grown up, what we might be able to do without our budding talents or our latest interests. Dreams are fragile things, but when they've been bolstered by the support of parents and teachers, and reinforced with early success, they can withstand the skeptics and take flight."
This, perhaps more than any other statement, defines what this book is about. Though light on the "literature," history, and behind-the-scenes tidbits, My Life As A Furry Red Monster is all about the quest of a furry, red, three-and-a-half year old monster to make the world a better place, one hug and one laugh at a time.
Rating: B
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