Review: Sendak, M. Where the wild things are.

Sendak, M. (2013). Where the wild things are. London: The Bodley Head.

(Original work published 1967)

A child will be a child, and sometimes a child will be a “wild thing.”  Such is the case in this beautifully illustrated contemporary classic by Maurice Sendak.  When Max makes all kind of mischief and is sent to his room without supper, his imagination takes over and transports him to a world where wild things reign and, ostensibly, are not sent to bed without dinner for being what they are.  Even here, Max is the wildest, and once named king, the ensuing “rumpus” is depicted in wordless pages of dark but energetic edge-to-edge artwork.

The beasts appear very happy indeed, but when the boy Max has released his wild energy, he feels lonely and longs to be where he is loved “best of all”--even more than by the creatures, who wish him not to leave.  This someone is, of course, his mother, because mothers will always love their children, no matter how wild; when he returns to his own reality, he finds his hot supper waiting. And while there may be no place like home, we are reminded that there is a little wild thing in all of us through the surreal, fantastic shapes and images done in pencil sketches with watercolors.

In Sendak's own words: click HERE for commentary.