Title: Where The Wild Things Are - 1963
Author and Illustrator: Maurice Sendak
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0060254920
Where The Wild Things Are won the Caldecott Medal of Honor in 1964. The medal was given to the book for being the most distinguished picture book of the preceding year and, I believe, with great reason. The story of the wild things and a young boy named Max is a classic. The story begins with a little boy named Max who is dressed as a wolf and is being naughty. His mother calls him a "wild thing" and as a response Max yells back "I'll eat you up!", he was naughty enough to be sent to his room without dinner. Max is in his room and a forest begins to grow, the walls of his room disappear, the ocean appears and he sails off through the night and day to where the wild things are. At first the wild things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth, they rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws but then Max was able to tame them with his magic trick of staring into their yellow eyes and not blinking. The wild things called Max the most wild thing of all, they made him king and the wild rumpus started, and they all danced and climbed and paraded around. Then Max stopped the wild rumpus and sent the wild things to bed without supper but Max was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all. Max gave up being king of the wild things and even though the wild things protested and cried "we'll eat you up - we love you so!" Max climbed into his boat and waved goodbye. Max sailed back through the night into his very own room, and there he found his supper waiting for him -- and it was still hot.
I have always loved this book, I loved it as a child when my father read it to me, I loved it when my childhood was recreated for a big time Hollywood movie and perhaps most of all, I love reading it to the children in my class. The story is simple and I believe that is a big part of the charm. A young boy is sent to his room without supper because he is being naughty, a simple concept and while most children aren't really sent to bed without dinner, all can relate to being sent to their rooms. Once being sent to their room most children will daydream and Max's daydream takes him far far away from his room and the trouble he has caused. At first the wild things, like all things that are new and exciting, seem much better than the alternative of sitting in his room and thinking about what he had done. However, as time goes on and Max begins to feel lonely, he realizes there's no place quite like home. When the wild things say "we'll eat you up - we love you so!" it is a direct reference to when Max yells to his mother "I'll eat you up!". The wild things are displaying the naughty behavior that Max got in trouble for in the first place. By injecting the word love into the sentence of the wild things we are reminded that even though Max was very angry when he spoke of eating his mother up - there is still love. The twist that Sendak puts on this sentence allows it to mean something entirely different. Once Max arrives back, he realizes that his instincts were spot on, home is better, his dinner is sitting there waiting for him and it's still hot, which I feel is an image representing love.
The illustrations in this book, which are also done by Maurice Sendak, are incredible. They are detailed and colorful but all have a similar vibrancy. The wild things are somewhat scary with their strange, huge heads and horns and teeth and yellow eyes but they also have a sweetness to them. The different textures of the wild things are incredibly interesting, the scales and feathers and fur, all of the wild things have animal attributes but not all of the attributes match on each particular wild thing. After Max declares "let the wild rumpus start!" there are six pages that are simply pictures without any words, but the idea and feeling of what a wild rumpus is completely comes across. There is no question as to what Maurice Sendak means by "wild rumpus" even though they are not words that the average child may know, that is the power of these illustrations. The last page simply says the words "and it was still hot." there is nothing more that is necessary, the emotion of this line is indescribable, it simply reiterates that no matter how bad you believe it to be at home, things may be worse out in the world.
I think that it is an incredible book to read aloud because of the wonderful sound effects that can be incorporated by the wild things. I think that is also a good conversation starter because it opens discussions about fantasy and reality, what we are afraid of and whether we should be afraid. The story is also about the imagination of a child, which is limitless and through Max's adventure we are able to see this. The lesson that Max learns is one that most children eventually learn -- there is no place like home.
