Adorable childhood storybook that never grows old....

Classic cute children's book. Missing dinner and forced to go to bed early is one of the greatest punishments, yet when you can always...
"...sail through night and day
and in and out of weeks
and almost over a year
to where the wild things are..."
...and you'll be enchanted by the wild things and be claimed king! Then have to come home because you're still hungry :P

Awn this book... it subtly carries the essence of childhood.

It is often difficult to review a book that was and still is one of my favorite all-time picture books. I adore everything about Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, from the brilliant text to the expressive accompanying illustrations. And I also with all my heart appreciate the message the author promotes here, a message of unconditional love, a message that even if one misbehaves, there will be supper waiting on the table (Max does get sent to his room, but no matter how much he has misbehaved, his mother will always love him and cherish him). Of course, that particular message is only one of many. As essential as the concept of universal love is the philosophy, is the attitude that children's emotions and tantrums are to be taken seriously and not ever simply dismissed. Max might be seen and chastised as a "wild thing" by his mother, but his emotions, his actions are described as an integral part of his being, maybe not quite appropriate, but also not completely inappropriate, rather as a living, breathing part of Max's being. And it is these emotions, these feelings that are the impetus to Max's adventures in the realm of the Wild Things. However, once Max's emotions have been allowed and have flourished to the maximum, he retreats from the realm of the Wild Things and is happy to return home to his room, his waiting supper and his mother's love.

I guess I should really mention that one of my more recent rereads of Where the Wild Things Are (in 2011 for the Picture Book Club in the Children's Literature Group) was the first time I had actually read this book in English. Prior to 2011, I had only ever read it in German translation, and I have to admit that I actually like the translated German version somewhat better than the original English. For those who know me, this is quite a contrary attitude, as I am as a rule very much in favour of original texts and keeping any translated narratives as close to the original as possible. In this particular case, I think that I appreciate the German translation more because it is the narrative that I had repeatedly read to me when I was a child, that I later read for myself (and in 2005 read to my young nieces). The German translation of Where the Wild Things Are therefore has a nostalgic hold on me that the Maurice Sendak's original text, no matter how ingenious, not matter that it is the master, the primordial, will simply never have (and for me, the ultimate version of this book will always, always be the German translation, Wo Die Wilden Kerle Wohnen.

This is where is all started. This tore down the walls in my imagination and let me run wild with the animals!!!

What kind of mother will send his child to bed without dinner?

Statistics say the many Filipinos go to bed with empty stomach. They just sleep so that they'll forget that they are hungry. Living in a Pacific island when I was a young boy, our family was poor too. However, my mother made sure that we ate something before going to bed. If my parents were hard up on cash because there were four of us young kids in the family and their only source of income were the coconut trees, there were times when we had to eat rice with a couple of fresh raw eggs with pinches of salt. But as small kids, we enjoyed it as we took turns eating from the same spoon and big plate while our mother was chasing each one of us while we ran around the house trying to have fun as we felt very happy with out mother chasing us. She ran after each of us with a spoonful of rice with egg and we keep on evading her until she got angry (you could tell this by the tone of her voice). Or its decibel depending on how long it took her to complete our feeding time which meants how long would it take for her to lose her patience. She called out our names according to our age: To!... Ningcoy!... Mon!... K.D.! (joke... I am only using this alias here in GR).

Chasing us. Wanting to feed us. However, this Max's mother called him "WILD THING" and Max said "I'LL EAT YOU UP" and he was sent to his room without dinner. Poor Max got hungry and started having delusions seeing forest, ocean, boat inside his bedroom then later all those scary-looking monsters with who he had a rumpus with.

And many of my friends are saying her in Goodreads that this is the best children's book ever. I came from another culture probably and I did not grow up with this book (no sweet memories attached to it). However, I do appreciate the uniqueness of the story. A mischievous child turns on his imagination similar to the boy in Dr. Seuss' 1937 children's book To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street which for me is a better book on how powerful children's imagination can be. I see and got amazed too at how imaginative Sendak's drawings that are becoming bigger and bigger as you turn the pages. Regarding the appearance of the characters, my problem is that I had seen the movie before reading the book and I found the moving pictures more interesting than the still pictures. However, of course the basic plot is the same. I just don't remember regarding the absence of food as punishment and the food showing up at the end of the movie. Which I think makes more sense being more rational.

Overall, it is nice to have finally read this classic work. Mo Twister of Good Times told us his listeners one morning last year that this is his favorite children's book. Mine is still Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince.

Thank you, Jzhun for lending me this book. 2 stars means "It's Okay!". Please please don't let your future children go to bed hungry. It is inhumane.

REREAD (October 2023):
I totally forgot how wonderful Sendak's illustrations are; totally raising this to five stars. The panel where the forest grows in Max's bedroom is my absolute favorite. So magical! The story is fun as well; I'm definitely passing it on to my nephew once he's older. Super stoked that a found an English copy for 6,00€ in perfect condition!

REZENSION:
Wo die wilden Kerle wohnen (englischer Originaltitel: Where the Wild Things Are) ist ein erstmals 1963 von Harper & Row veröffentlichtes Kinder- und Bilderbuch des US-amerikanischen Autors und Illustrators Maurice Sendak, jüngstes von drei Kindern einer Familie polnisch-jüdischer Einwanderer. Im Jahr 1967 erschien die erste deutschsprachige Übersetzung von Claudia Schmölders im Diogenes Verlag. Das Buch wurde diverse Male adaptiert, unter anderem als animierter Kurzfilm (1974), Oper (1980) und als Kinofilm von Spike Jonze (2009). Sendak erhielt für das Buch 1964 die Caldecott Medal als bestes Kinderbuch. Im Jahr 2012 wurde es zum wiederholten Male von Lesern des School Library Journals zum besten Bilderbuch aller Zeiten gewählt.

Mir begegnete das Buch zum ersten Mal in der 3. oder 4. Klasse, als wir es im Lebenskundeunterricht lasen, besprachen und adaptierten. Ich erinnere mich noch so gut daran, wie wir für unser kleines Theaterstuck die Monster-Masken bastelten. Meine war farbenfroh und an einem Stiel aus Holz befestigt, sodass ich mir die übergroße Maske (ja, sie war größer als mein Kopf) gut vor das Gesicht halten konnte, natürlich wurden Löcher für die Augen ausgespart. ;) Ich erinnere mich nicht mehr genau daran, wie die eigentliche Aufführung des Stücks lief (und vor allem vor wem wir das aufführten? den anderen Klassen? unseren Eltern?); ich erinnere mich aber noch daran, wie es im Unterricht zu einer kleinen Meinungsverschiedenheit zwischen mir und meiner damaligen besten Freundin kam, weil wir beide gerne die Rolle des Erzählers/der Erzählerin haben wollten. Es war nämlich so, dass quasi ein Max und ganz viele Monster gecastet wurden und dann noch ein Erzähler, der die Geschichte vorlesen sollte, während die anderen sie durch Schauspiel darstellten. Meine Lehrerin nahm mich dann ganz gewissenhaft beiseite und erklärte mir, dass sie mich gerne als Erzählerin gesehen hätte, aber ich meiner besten Freundin aufgrund ihres leicht erzürnbaren Temperaments (lmao, gurl what?) doch bitte den Vortritt lassen soll. Ich erinnere mich noch so gut daran, weil ich damals, als 9-Jährige wohlbemerkt, richtig empört darüber war. Ich wollte doch Erzählerin sein. Nunja, wie auch immer. Ich habe auch ein tolles Monster abgegeben. ;)

Die Geschichte handelt von einem Jungen namens Max. Nachdem dieser ein Wolfskostüm angezogen hat, tobt er so wild durch das Haus, dass er von seiner Mutter ohne Abendessen ins Bett geschickt wird. Das Schlafzimmer von Max verwandelt sich daraufhin auf geheimnisvolle Weise in eine Dschungelumgebung. Max gelangt mit einem kleinen Segelboot auf eine Insel, die von großen Monstern bewohnt wird, den "wilden Kerlen". Nachdem es ihm gelungen ist, die Kreaturen einzuschüchtern, wird Max zum König der wilden Kerle gekrönt, und er genießt die Balgerei mit seinen Untertanen. Dennoch beginnt er sich einsam zu fühlen, so dass er sich entschließt, nach Hause zurückzukehren, zur Bestürzung der wilden Kerle. Bei seiner Rückkehr entdeckt Max sein noch warmes Abendessen neben sich.

Where the Wild Things Are is one of those stories - like much of the work of Dr. Seuss - that is a treasured memento of my own early reading childhood, and as a result, excruciatingly difficult to subject to any kind of meaningful analysis (would "it's genius!" suffice?). So deeply embedded is it, in my memories of childhood, that it seems almost perfect to me, and utterly impervious to criticism.

With a rather free-form text - Sendak's sentences tend to tumble along, in a rushing accretion of thoughts that, despite their seeming disorganization, build flawlessly toward the final page - and brilliant engraving-style artwork, this book perfectly captures a child's willful obstinacy, when being punished (something with which I was intimately acquainted, as a girl), and the healing balm provided by the imagination, during such turbulent incidents. Childhood, despite the sincere desire of many that it should be otherwise, is not all sweetness and light. Rather, it is often a time of terror, as the young person contends with a world that is on a different, and far larger scale than herself; and sometimes also of rage, at the discovery that life, and the people in it, will not always (in fact, will rarely) be governed by our will. This isn't to say that this is all that childhood is, but I think it is certainly a significant part, and a necessary one, in the maturing process. And Sendak, a true picture-book pioneer, captured that to perfection here!

I do not know, despite my love for it, to whom I would recommend Where the Wild Things Are. To young children who love imaginary (or not) voyages? To kids who resent being punished, and want a way to express their frustration, all while being assured that at the end, they will still be loved? To fans of fine engravings in general, and Sendak's work in particular? To anyone interested in the genre of picture-books? Yes. To all of these, I think.

The thing I remember most vividly about this book are the gorgeous illustrations, and the way the boy's bedroom would morph into the wild woods as the story went on. I really need to re-read this book some day...

“Where the Wild Things Are” is Maurice Sendak’s most popular children’s book and has won the Caldecott Medal for being the most distinguished picture book of the year. Many libraries across the country have dedicated themselves to this book because of its imaginative creatures and illustrations. This book deserves the title “best children’s book” that it gained over the years.

Maurice Sendak beautifully illustrates this book with pastel colors and occasional pencil scratching for the wild things’ hair. The illustrations that were the true highlights of this book were of the wild things having a party in six pages of the book and of Max sailing in his private boat at night when he comes back home from where the things are. Max’s character is also highlighted in this book as he responds to what a child would face if their reality is harsh and usually most children would try to imagine a world where they can do anything they want and not get in trouble with the things they do. However, when Max realizes that the wild things do not love him as much as his mother does; he decides to face reality when he returns home from where the wild things are.

Parents should know that for children who have not read “Where the Wild Things Are” might be frightened by the images of the monsters in this book. The monsters are portrayed as being half human, half animal, and half of other various creatures such as a monster on the cover of the book that has human feet and the body of a bull. These monsters may be too scary for small children as they appear to be extremely threatening towards the main character, Max, at the beginning of the book when they showed their terrible claws and teeth. However, as the book progresses, the monsters turned out to be a bit timid around Max which may lessen the fear that children would have for these monsters.

“Where the Wild Things Are” is clearly a distinguished children’s book ahead of its time and has remained to be one of the best picture books of all time. Its theme about how children use imagination to occasionally escape the perils of their lives is clearly defined in this book and would help many children realize how helpful imagination can be for their lives. However, parents may want to read this book before they show it to their children and see if their children like the monsters in this book. I would strongly recommend this book for ages five and over because while the book is easy to read, the monsters may be too much for children under five to handle.

This review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

Also, check out the movie!



And tell me what you think!

There are a lot of books I missed out on as a kid (on account of coming from a family of non-readers AND on account of not being a native English speaker). Over the years, I've caught up on quite a few but the endeavor is never over, it would seem.

Where the Wild Things Are is one of THE childrens book - and this was my first time reading it. It tells of little Max, who is quite a temperamentful child. One night, after taking it a bit too far, he is being sent to his room without dinner by his mother. She even calls him a wild thing. Soon after, a forest grows in Max's bedroom and a might adventure unfolds.

The reason for the title has to do with Max, his temperament and the costume he so loves to wear - which directly influences where Max goes and who he meets once the forest has grown in his room, of course.

An enchanting story about the endless worlds opening up if we let our imagination take over.

Equally as enchanting are the illustrations of Max's kingdom and the wild things he's having a good time with:




Yes, the book certainly is for very young readers, but it still has quite a lot of educational value, teaching of certain behaviorisms from children and parents alike and celebrating not just being wild and free but also creative!

This book is crap, and let me tell you why. The kid is a jerk and is sent to his room without supper. He proceeds to go to some magical place where these monsters live and he bosses them around and is mean to them. Then he gets back home...having not learned that being a mean jerk is wrong...and there on his table in his room is dinner...and it's still warm. What's the lesson here exactly?
Hate the book.