Where The Wild Things Are

Title: Where The Wild Things Are

Author/Illustrator: Maurice Sendak

ISBN: 0060254920

Publisher: Harper Collins

    


     One of the best qualities that small children possess is their imagination. For example, children can make apples out of oranges.  In contrast, adults have a realistic attitude towards life, and can only see what is plainly before them.  But by reading children's literature, we can remember what it is like to use our imaginations.

     As a child I loved to pretend rooms in my house were different places.  Sometimes, I imagined my room was a doctor's office, other times it was a tree house, but mostly it was a school.  Who would have thought I'd become a teacher?  I can also remember when my grandmother and I would turn my dining room into a tea party on Sesame Street.  You see, to me imagining different settings made them seem real.

     On the nights when I couldn't fall sleep immediately, I would pretend my room was the Small World ride in Disney World.  I was sailing through my room looking at all the international dolls that were singing and dancing. This memory is why I choose the story Where The Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak. I feel a special connection with the creative images that were used in this text.

     Where The Wild Things Are is a story of a young boy named Max who uses his imagination to turn his room into a forest, an ocean and, finally, the place "where the wild things are."  The wild things are described as big, scary creatures with terrible roars, teeth, eyes and claws.  The illustrations did an excellent job of depicting them as terrible.  But Max was able to tame the wild things by staring into their eyes and scaring them. They were so frightened of him they named him king of all the wild things.  Eventually, Max missed his mother and got hungry so he sailed back home.

     Sendak did a fantastic job of both writing and illustrating this story.  Any young child can relate to the way the boy used his imagination.  The story comes to life through the pictures. It is one of the best text-to- picture books that I have ever read.  A few pages have only illustrations, which made me feel as if I am actually there with the wild things.  I could almost hear jungle music playing while the creatures were going wild.  I believe that Sendak deserved the Caldecott Medal he received for this book.