Maurice Sendak dies; author and illustrator wrote about children’s survival

[no_hypocrisy]

Maurice Sendak, an author and illustrator whose dozens of works, notably “Where the Wild Things Are,” transformed children’s literature from a gentle playscape into a medium to address the psychological intensity of growing up, died early Tuesday at a hospital in Danbury, Conn., according to the Associated Press.

-snip-

An admitted obsession with “children and their survival” and the “humongous heroism of children” fueled a career of groundbreaking darkness in children's literature. President Bill Clinton presented him with the National Medal of Arts in 1996, saying, “His books have helped children to explore and resolve their feelings of anger, boredom, fear, frustration and jealousy.”

-snip-

Mercier said the Sendak trilogy of “Where the Wild Things Are” (1963), “In the Night Kitchen” (1970) and “Outside Over There” (1981) “crashed open the gates” for what themes authors could address in children's literature.

-more-

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/maurice-sendak-author-and-illustrator-of-works-about-childrens-survival-dies/2012/05/08/gIQA8lXMAU_story.html

" . . . and his dinner was still warm."

RIP. He was an integral part of my childhood.





http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WhereTheWildThingsAre

[Nye Bevan]

1. "Little Bear" was great. My kids all loved it. RIP (nt)

[uppityperson]

9. I forgot he illustrated Little Bear. Those were great books.

[bigtree]

2. aww

I know his name from the cover of the book I cherished as a child. Rest in peace, dear sir.

[Kali]

3. oh

I'm sad.

[HopeHoops]

4. ...

[TeeYiYi]

5. Among the very best illustrators....

He will be missed.



TYY

[TlalocW]

8. RE: My post number 7 below

See? Just look at them! Those monsters are playing Max for a patsy!

TlalocW

[TeeYiYi]

10. I read your post 7...

Wow. You could write your own children's books. I enjoyed reading your posts.

Re: the above illustration... There's a whole lot of acting going on in that pic. Max is acting tough and the monsters are 'acting' scared. Kudos to Sendak.

TYY

[Amaril]

6. Sad here, too.

I didn't discover "Where the Wild Things Are" until I had children of my own (even though it was published the same year I was born), and I'm not sure who love it more -- me or the kiddles. I have little figurines of Max and Carol that have sat on my desk for years.

RIP Maurice! Thanks for the adventures!

[TlalocW]

7. Never liked, "Where the Wild Things Are" as a child

I was convinced... CONVINCED! that the monsters knew that the kid wasn't a monster and were just biding their time and playing with their food (especially the way the one monster with hair all around his head) stared at him. Sure he got away at the end of the book, but the next time he went, he was monster chow. And as a kid, when you re-read the book, sometimes you expect it to change, especially if you have such fears as monsters coming to get you.

I also remember a reaction like this to a story we read in grade school about witches around Halloween. Some kids discovered there were some witches in a nearby cave planning to do bad, but they couldn't come out because it was raining. So one of the kids dressed as a witch, and they all walked under umbrellas to the cave to let the kid enter dry as a bone. When she did, the other witches were amazed and wanted to know how she survived the rain, and she said she walked between the raindrops, and it was an easy task to do for witches, and she would teach them. Of course, the rain melted the witches, but I was concerned that 1) there was no way you could fool witches into believing you're one of them and 2) the cavalier taking of witch life...

TlalocW

[fishwax]

11. RIP, and thank you very much for Max

[KG]

12. never read “Where the Wild Things Are” as a kid coz the illustrations freaked me out...

[HarveyDarkey]

13. President Obama Reads "Where the Wild Things Are"