No children's library is complete without this title.

10 stars!
Amazing illustrations and unique fantasy elements.
One of the favourite books for both my children (5 and 7 years old)

I just cannot believe what I just read!
Totally amazed me with the unusual illustrations!
I haven't read a children's book with such kind of illustration depicting the wild imagination of a kid with such innocence.
It is just suitable for very young kids.
Less words.
More pictures.
The sequential art is the highlight of this one.
But...
I just felt it was too short. Just too short!
I need more.

مغزاها لطيف للغاية♡

I know I'm not the targeted audience for this book, but I felt like it was lacking in the plot department. It didn't really have a conflict for Max to overcome or a good moral lesson for kids to take away from in the end. I wouldn't really recommend this to anyone, kids or adults.

Through a Child’s Eye
(A Book Review of Maurice Sendak’s Where The Wild Things Are)

I’m glad that I recently scored a vintage 1963 edition (pictures here) of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are in Booksale during one of the mini Meet Ups with my Goodreads-The Filipino Group friends. I breeze through the book in a matter of minutes while waiting for them, and right there and then something just hit me. Without a doubt, it certainly earns its place as a classic storybook of Children’s Literature.

Where the Wild Things Are tells the story of the rascal Max, who dresses up in his wolf suit and causes trouble enough to make his mother order him to go to bed without supper at all. As the title alludes, the picture book shows a child’s unbound and limitless wild rumpus of an imagination exhibited when Max reaches deeper within his imagining and sees his room transformed into a forest inhabited by the Wild Things — roaring and gnashing monsters with yellow eyes, sharp teeth and horns — where he, by a mere stare, can tame and be the king of them all.

I think what endears every child who reads Sendak’s picture book is that most of them can identify with Max’s feeling of resentment, that though he had had his share of fun out of it, he eventually grows weary and lonely, permitting him later on to go back to the place where he most wants to be and appreciate the most important thing he left behind: the need to feel loved.

At home, after a tiring yet fun-filled day with friends and before hitting the sack, I’m still at it, staring mesmerized by Sendak’s impressive work of art with its muted colors and cross-hatchings, that looks like sketches, add further magic, energy and excitement to every kid who reads it they would love to be in the shoes of Max, playing with the Wild Things on their “wild rumpus” where they can howl at the moon and swing from tree to tree in bold celebration of all the wildness they possess.

I rue the fact that I stumbled upon this picture book well into my manhood, but it definitely touched something in me — the book has this uncanny ability to enchant itself to the nostalgic memory of childhood, rekindling its innermost emotions. It’s as if I’m seeing the world again through a child’s eye.

Nevertheless, this is a book worth keeping — for every reading always brings a new perspective, a nuanced view of the book’s message — which I will one day read to my future children and let them discover for themselves a world of their own creation; a world where the wild things are, where only they has the power to tame.


_________________________
Book Details: Book #24 for 2011
Published by Harper & Row, Publishers
(Hardcover, 1963 First Edition)
42 pages
Read on: June 15, 2011
My Rating: ★★★★★

[See this review on my book blog n  Dark Chest of Wondersn and for many others.]

Esperaba algo más por los comentarios y por su calificación en Goodreads, pero es un cuento para niños y no mucho más que eso.

n   4.5 STARSn

Un niño con mucha imaginación, en vez de sentirse herido por los regaños de su mamá, utiliza eso para emprender un viaje en el que sus defectos lo convierten en el rey de su propio mundo.



Libro sencillo para niños, con increíbles y originales imágenes.

Vean la película también es una obra de arte.

El libro me pareció estéticamente bonito, no voy a mentir, me encantaron las ilustraciones y tenía ganas de leerlo ya que generalmente se lo toma como un libro dorado tanto para niños como para adultos. Pero francamente no me dejó muy conforme, y eso me apena un poco. La historia trata de un niño el cual luego de tener una breve discusión con la madre, es mandado a su cuarto sin cenar. Cuando él entra a su habitación, nota que repentinamente el lugar ha transformado en una selva. Se dirige hacia una aventura en la cual se encuentra con unos monstruos, de los cuales optaré por no hablar para omitir spoilers. Supongo que el mensaje final es lindo, pero la actitud del protagonista nunca me termina de cerrar.

El motivo concreto por el cual no me gustó es porque sentí que de alguna forma, el niño se sale con la suya todo el tiempo sin tomar demasiada consciencia de sus actos. Luego, se encuentra con los monstruos, quienes lo coronan como el "monstruo más temido de todos". Tras celebrarlo y reflexionar, el protagonista se da cuenta de que no se siente lo suficientemente querido, y se larga, contra la voluntad de los monstruos. Y cuando finalmente llega, se encuentra con su comida calentita en su habitación. Me parece que el mensaje es bastante claro: si hay alguien que lo quiere de verdad, es su familia, que a pesar de los choques, se toma el trabajo de llevarle comida al cuarto. Pero la cosa queda ahí, y no estoy muy segura si me gustó demasiado. Al final, consiguió todo lo que quiso, sin importar cómo lo obtuvo ni como trató al resto.

Some of my happiest memories, as a book-loving parent, were listening to my husband read this story to my oldest and hear him "roar" like the wild things. There are lines from this book that I will never forget!

I'm Persian so I never read this book when i was a child....I'm so happy about it!
It was very very very creepy and it had no morals or anything...It was scary...
I mean...What is this ****?

Превъзходна книга –красива и умна.
Преведена е прекрасно, като почнем още от заглавието – мразя мързеливите буквализми и мисълта, че можеше да се казва "Където живеят дивите неща" или нещо такова, ме натъжава. При тях е, точно така. И вътре е също толкова точно, истинско и живо!
На две-три места – най-вече при "стените станаха света навред", човек сякаш малко се затруднява или замисля, но ми се струва, че както се стараем да запознаваме децата си с различни видове изобразителна естетика, така би трябвало да им предлагаме и различни текстове, в някои от които може би не всичко е автоматично ясно.

Илюстрациите са превъзходни. В последно време съм се зарибила да прерисувам разни любими "картинки" – от "Зайчето Питър", "Пипи", "Мечо Пух", Туве Янсон – за бъдещата нова стая на малките бобри и просто нямате представа как ме засърбяват ръцете, като ги гледам тези разкошни цъкни.

Може би най-категоричната оценка е, че след първото четене, Бран каза "Прочети я пак" и така още четири пъти, и ако не бях му намерила нещо да го разсея, може би щяхме да продължим нощи и дни, седмица след седмица и почти над година.

Благодарим, Стефан Русинов, благодарим, "Лист"!