A Japanese animated film based on the original novel and its illustrations premiered in 1997, while the character Boris the Dragon was produced into a plush toy designed by Sunflower Publishing Company and released in the fall of the same year.

The illustrations are by Ruth Chrisman Gannett and hand-drawn in black and white with a grease crayon on grained paper.

Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association listed it as one of "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children".

It starred the voices of Yu-ki of the pop group TRF as Elmer Elevator and Megumi Hayashibara as Boris the Dragon.

[7] Netflix announced the cast in April 2022 which included Jacob Tremblay as Elmer Elevator and Gaten Matarazzo as Boris the dragon alongside Golshifteh Farahani, Dianne Wiest, Rita Moreno, Chris O'Dowd, Judy Greer, Alan Cumming, Yara Shahidi, Jackie Earle Haley, Mary Kay Place, Leighton Meester, Adam Brody, Charlyne Yi, with Whoopi Goldberg and Ian McShane.