Books with title Maurice Sendak

Not all of the adults liked Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are when it was published in 1963. In his book, a small boy named Max makes his mother furious. He gets into all sorts of trouble. But it was just the kind of book that children loved. And it made Maurice Sendak famous. The year after it was published, Where the Wild Things Are won the Caldecott Medal for the best illustrated children's book. No one ever debated that Sendak was an enormously talented artist.

Born in 1928, Maurice Sendak was a sickly child who passed the time by sketching the children who were able to play in the street below his window. Sendak excelled in art during high school and found a job decorating store windows. When a book editor discovered his talent, Sendak's skill was much in demand as a storybook illustrator. Once he started writing books as well as illustrating them, Sendak's stories allowed children to experience places and journeys not often found in other books, including a magic land in Where the Wild Things Are, In the Night Kitchen's noisy adventure, and a land in Outside Over There where a young girl must save her baby sister from goblins. Today, Sendak continues to write and illustrate stories, and he finds ways to introduce socially important themes to young readers. In a one-volume reference, Maurice Sendak details the life and real-life influences of this famous author, revealing the person behind the words, and the author behind the literature we love.

It seems entirely fitting that Maurice Sendak was born on the same day that Mickey Mouse first made his cartoon debut--June 10, 1928. Sendak was crazy about cartoons and comic books, and at twelve, after seeing Disney's Fantasia, he decided that he was going to become an illustrator. His love of childrens books began early: often sick and confined to bed, little Maurice read and read and read. Though many of his own stories were light and funny, the most important ones--Where the Wild Things Are, In the Night Kitchen, Outside Over There--dealt with anger, jealousy, abandonment, content that had never before been the subject of picture books. As well as covering career highlights, this easy to read, illustrated biography also describes the personal life of this genius. Who Was Maurice Sendak is perfect for kids wild about one of the most influential children's book artists of the twentieth century!