Maurice Sendak

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Lore & Background

Sendak gained international acclaim after writing and illustrating *Where the Wild Things Are* (1963), edited by Ursula Nordstrom. It features Max, a boy who "rages against his mother for being sent to bed without any supper." The book's depictions of fanged monsters concerned some parents when it was first published. Sendak explained that the title came from the Yiddish phrase *vilde chaya*, or "wild beast": "It's what almost every Jewish mother or father says to their offspring, 'You're acting like a vilde chaya! Stop it!'" It won the Caldecott Medal. *In the Night Kitchen* (1970) is "a further exploration of a boy's fantasy world, this time closely based on Sendak's childhood memories of New York life." Sendak explained: "It was an homage to everything I loved: New York, immigrants, Jews, Laurel and Hardy, Mickey Mouse, King Kong, movies. I just jammed them into one cuckoo book." It has often been censored for its drawings of a young boy prancing naked through the story. *Outside Over There* (1981) is the story of a girl named Ida and her sibling jealousy and responsibility. Carpenter and Prichard write, "More dark in subject matter than *Where the Wild Things Are* and *In the Night Kitchen*, it was published on both adult and children's book lists." Sendak also illustrated the first five books in Else Holmelund Minarik's *Little Bear* series. He designed sets for operas, notably Mozart's *The Magic Flute*.

Reader's Guide

Maurice Sendak's significance lies in his profound impact on children's literature, pushing the boundaries of what picture books could address. As described by Margalit Fox, he 'wrenched the picture book out of the safe, sanitized world of the nursery and plunged it into the dark, terrifying and hauntingly beautiful recesses of the human psyche.' His trilogy—*Where the Wild Things Are*, *In the Night Kitchen*, and *Outside Over There*—explored themes of anger, fantasy, and sibling jealousy. *Where the Wild Things Are* was adapted into an opera by Oliver Knussen and a film by Spike Jonze. Sendak received the National Medal of Arts in 1996. He was the subject of an *American Masters* documentary, "Mon Cher Papa" (1987), and his career was chronicled in Lance Bangs's *Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak* (2009). In 1993, Sendak published *We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy*, about the AIDS crisis. Later, he collaborated with playwright Tony Kushner on a new English-language version of the Holocaust opera *Brundibár*, published as an illustrated book in 2003. His last published work before his death was *Bumble Ardy* (2011), adapted from his *Sesame Street* short. *My Brother's Book* (2013) was published posthumously.

Did You Know?

• Sendak's childhood was impacted by the death of many of his family members during the Holocaust, which introduced him at a young age to the concept of mortality.
• When he was 12, he decided to become an illustrator after watching Walt Disney's *Fantasia* (1940).
• One of his first professional commissions, at age 20, was creating window displays for the toy store FAO Schwarz.
• A little boy named Jim loved a card Sendak sent him so much that he ate it—Sendak called it 'one of the highest compliments I've ever received.'
• Sendak's *In the Night Kitchen* has been challenged in several U.S. states including Illinois, New Jersey, Minnesota, and Texas.