Where The Wild Things Are-Book Review



BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sendak, Maurice. 1963. WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE. Ill. by Maurice Sendak. New York, NY. Harper & Row.  ISBN 0-06-025492-0

PLOT SUMMARY

Max, a young boy, is sent to his room with no dinner because he was misbehaving.  While in his room, his imagination runs wild.  A forest grows in his room and he travels through the forest and across the sea to where the wild things are. The wild things make him their king and they all join in a wild rumpus!  Eventually though, Max becomes homesick and returns to the security of his own room where surprisingly he finds his supper waiting for him!

 

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This story reminds me of my childhood and about what fun you can have if you only use your imagination!  When Max is sent to his room for misbehavior he realizes that he can run away by imaginging that he is somewhere where others will understand him.  The wild things are intended to be scary when they "roar their terrible roars, gnash their terrible teeth, roll their terrible eyes and show their terrible claws", but then Max tames them with magic and they all continue to have fun!  Max experiences the joys of independence and individuality, but he also realizes that at home is where he is loved the most.

 

The illustrations in this book are absolutely amazing. Without these pictures, the story just wouldn't be the same.  They are brilliant and full of life and color.  Sendak does a superb job in showing "scary" monsters that aren't really that scary after all--they are maybe even a little bit funny! The "wild rumpus" pages are absolutely my favorite.  They don't even need words to tell the story as they all jump and howl at the moon, swing through the trees and march in a parade through the jungle.  These pictures make lasting images in young readers minds and adults alike.  This is a picture book that has been enjoyed through the ages and will be for many more to come because of its connections to realistic emotions.

 

AWARDS

1964-Caldecott Medal Award

1970-Sendak became the first American illustrator to receive the international Hans Christian Andersen Award for his entire body of work.

1983-Laura Ingalls Wilder Award from the American Library Association for his entire body of work.

 

REVIEW EXCERPTS

Barnes & Noble Editorial Reviews:

"Sendak presents an image of children not as sentimentalized little dears but as people coping with complex emotions such as anger, fear, frustration, wonder, and awareness of their own vulnerability."

 

"Marvelous pictures and the superb story combine to make this a quintessential picture book. In it, readers will recognize their own wild side."

 

"Where the Wild Things Are" is one of the most popular picture books of all time exemplifying Sendak's incredible knowledge of the textual narrative through illustration.

-Ty Hulse
Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ty_Hulse

 

CONNECTIONS
This book has many thematic elements, such as: fantasy, misbehavior, discipline, imagination, play.  Lesson plans could be designed around each of these elements, although I would think that they would most easily be geared toward pre-school and early elementary students.