Yesterday would have been Maurice Sendak's 85th birthday. I'm not so sure he would have cared, particularly. When I saw an interview with him a few months before he died, he seemed rather like my father: everything that works hurts, and he was (understandably) grumpy about it. But I did so enjoy his books and his illustrations.
It wouldn't be right not to start with "In The Night Kitchen" (1970). It's a book. It's a little boy's dream-world romp through a sometimes-scary kitchen. The book has been banned and "helpfully" re-illustrated (some copies show a diaper drawn on the kid!). Get over it: it's art, not lewdity.
I think the most famous of Maurice Sendak's works is "Where the Wild Things Are" (1963). Despite the book's huge popularity, especially with children, he refused to write a sequel. Good for him, I say! "(F)our months before his death, he told comedian Stephen Colbert that one would be "the most boring idea imaginable." (Quoted from Wikipedia.)
Every kid in my family gets--whenever and however we can find one--a Nutshell Library (1962). The four-book collection comes as a boxed set, and each volume is custom-sized for little hands to hold. The titles are:
Bonus: The little white dog in many of Maurice's illustrations was a tribute to his little best friend, Jennie, who was a Sealyham Terrier.
It wouldn't be right not to start with "In The Night Kitchen" (1970). It's a book. It's a little boy's dream-world romp through a sometimes-scary kitchen. The book has been banned and "helpfully" re-illustrated (some copies show a diaper drawn on the kid!). Get over it: it's art, not lewdity.
I think the most famous of Maurice Sendak's works is "Where the Wild Things Are" (1963). Despite the book's huge popularity, especially with children, he refused to write a sequel. Good for him, I say! "(F)our months before his death, he told comedian Stephen Colbert that one would be "the most boring idea imaginable." (Quoted from Wikipedia.)
Every kid in my family gets--whenever and however we can find one--a Nutshell Library (1962). The four-book collection comes as a boxed set, and each volume is custom-sized for little hands to hold. The titles are:
Alligators All Around: An AlphabetWe had a treasure. We loved him and then we had to give him back. We can enjoy that he was here.
One Was Johnny: A Counting Book
Chicken Soup with Rice: A Book of Months
Pierre: A Cautionary Tale in Five Chapters and a Prologue
Bonus: The little white dog in many of Maurice's illustrations was a tribute to his little best friend, Jennie, who was a Sealyham Terrier.
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