Let the wild rumpus start!

by chuckofish

Maurice Sendak died yesterday at the age of 83. Sendak wrote and illustrated more than 50 children’s books–including “Where the Wild Things Are,” his most famous, published in 1963. This book was a great favorite of my children.

Daughter #1’s Wild Thing and Max dolls

As a parent who had to read it many, many times, I appreciated that it was great fun to read aloud (with feeling):

“And the wild things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws.”

And as a parent I appreciated that its message to misbehaving children who are sent to their room without supper is, ultimately, that home is best:

“And [he] sailed back over a year
and in and out of weeks
and through a day
and into the night of his very own room
where he found his supper waiting for him
and it was still hot.”

AND IT WAS STILL HOT!

Rest in peace, Maurice.