Where the Wild Things Are
by Maurice Sendak
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Read in January, 1979
recommends it for:
Delusional miscreants.
I have no doubt that this book damaged me, psychologically, as a small child. It is one of the earliest books I vividly remember reading aloud to myself, and I remember the first time my mother read it to me before she put me to bed. Here's the gist of the plot: A little boy named Max dresses up in a wolf costume, plays with a hammer, chases his dog with a fork, then threatens to cannibalize his mother. His mother, a master of irony, then puts him to bed with no dinner. Already, this story shoul...more
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Read in June, 1972
I lived in Richmond,Kentucky when I was a kid. It was a sweet, semi-rural upbringing where a six year old could walk up the street with his little poodle dog (that would be me and mine) and visit a kindly elderly couple that would only allow the dog on their couch when the dog had just been washed. Somehow the dog knew this and was always ready to take that walk up the street after it had been bathed. Weird, I know. It was also the kind of small town where people who read the New Yorker were...more
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Read in January, 1986
recommended to Meg by:
my mommy... who read it every nightrecommends it for: EVERYONE (yes, even you adults)
Another 5 star! Man, I'm getting generous. You guys just keep bringing up stories that KICK TRASH! This is the greatest children's book in the history of time as far as I'm concerned. And I'll tell you something WICKED AWESOME about it that I figured out when I researched it for a play adaptation I wrote. **GET OUT THE COPY OF YOUR CHILDREN'S BOOK RIGHT NOW**... Flip through the pages, and notice that on the first page the artwork is a small rectangle... then it grows larger and larger on...more
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Read in October, 1983
recommends it for:
saturn's children
I know that many people hate this book because they seem to be above the story line, but this book is a classic. I mean since the day I first read it, I have not been able to put it down. I would keep a dog eared copy in my locker at school, perched so that when I opened the door, it would fall to my feet. I would pick it up, and say "Max, yeah, I can relate..." cause I knew if I sulked enough, the girl would pity me, and i'd get laid.
It's about a disenfranchised kid, our modern da...more
It's about a disenfranchised kid, our modern da...more
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Where the Wild Things Are is an appropriate book for children ages 4-8. I like it because in the story Max goes on a great adventure without even leaving his bedroom. Also, I like how the book lends itself to creative drama activities in which students can become all of the wild things "showing their terrible claws" and "roaring their terrible roars". The author's use of repetition, emphasizing the monsters' rolling eyes, terrible claws, gnashing teeth, and terrible roars ...more
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Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak is a fantastic children's book all about using your imagination.
The book is about a child (main character; Max) who is being punished by his mother for making mischief and is sent to his room. Max wears a wolf costume that shows off his "wild side." Alone, his room then turns into a forest from his imagination and Max takes a trip to the land of Wild Things.
There he finds and befriends a fearless group of monsters. However, he t...more
The book is about a child (main character; Max) who is being punished by his mother for making mischief and is sent to his room. Max wears a wolf costume that shows off his "wild side." Alone, his room then turns into a forest from his imagination and Max takes a trip to the land of Wild Things.
There he finds and befriends a fearless group of monsters. However, he t...more
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The classic. I would take this on a desert island. So much to explore and interpret in the words and the pictures. I'm afraid my girls don't like the book as much as I do. But sooner or later, they'll come around.
I see quite a few people complaining about Max being a little shit and not learning a lesson in "Where the Wild Things Are." Well, guess what, a lot of kids are little shits. And I believe Max did learn a few things on his journey. Sometimes it's not so good to be the king...more
I see quite a few people complaining about Max being a little shit and not learning a lesson in "Where the Wild Things Are." Well, guess what, a lot of kids are little shits. And I believe Max did learn a few things on his journey. Sometimes it's not so good to be the king...more
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Read in January, 2008
This classic, ever-loved story of Max, the ‘wild thing’, transports children (and adults) to an imaginary wonder-lust of forests, lovable monsters, and childhood imagination. Banished to his room for his wild antics, Max conjures up a place where only his mind's eye can take him. Seen through Max’s eyes, his room becomes a place where he is ‘king of all wild things’. The illustrations eventually overtake the pages of the book, as Max becomes the ruler of this wild kingdom. But, alas, ...more
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recommends it for:
fans of the author, young kids
i can not recall the first time i read this childrens book...or more likely, i can't recall the first time i had this book read to me. all i know is that for years the line "oh please don't go. we'll eat you up, we love you so." stayed with me. i think it scared me as a child, which is probably why i liked it so much.
it wasn't until i was older that i rediscovered this classic story. a child i was looking after had taken it out from the library and i immediately read it to the bot...more
it wasn't until i was older that i rediscovered this classic story. a child i was looking after had taken it out from the library and i immediately read it to the bot...more
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This is a childhood favaorite of mine. A little boy gets in trouble and is sent up to his room for punishment. He has a wild imagination and his room turns into where the wild things live. He meets wild thins and dances, eats, etc with them. I love this bok becuase of the pictures and story line. The imagination that the little boy has reminds me of all children. I think that this book can be used as a writing assignment. The students can creat there own world, or far away place that they like t...more
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Read in January, 1986
recommends it for:
Everyone
I loved this book as a child and just last year my (then) 5 year old son bought it home from school as one of his weekly library books! Just to sit down with him and read it thru then listen to my daughter read it thru with him was amazing....to think this book was around (probably) for a long time before I could read and now its being read by my children and being loved just as much! Lets hope this is one story that will be around when it comes time for my grandchildren to be starting school an...more
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Read in May, 2008
I read at the bookstore last night. It seemed like I was the only person I know who hadn't read this book. I can see why it is so well loved. The illustrations were fun. I liked how the book had the story language that makes it good reading silently or aloud. I also liked how Max tries to tame the wild things like his mom did him, which possibly shows him learning a lesson. And the fact that his mother brings him dinner anyway, even though its inconsistent parenting in the real world, gave...more
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Hands-down this is my favorite childhood book. As a child prone to small fits of anger, I always resonated with this story on a visceral level--shout at your mother, refuse to eat your supper, sail away to a magic forest, dance with the monsters, and return safely home again to realize that you are still loved? I felt deeply affirmed by this message.
Now, unfortunately, my dear, dear, childhood book has been ruined by graduate school education and I read an entirely different story about col...more
Now, unfortunately, my dear, dear, childhood book has been ruined by graduate school education and I read an entirely different story about col...more
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Read in March, 2008
Still one of the best children's books around.
I read this to my sons again the other night and they love it. My eight-year-old saying, as I finished, "This was his imagination, right? He wasn't really with the wild things."
The story is so simple that the reader/listener can follow but interpret and add to it in their own imagination. The artwork, truly classic, captures the right amount of a child's imagination ... making the wild things creepy and scary ... and yet not quit...more
I read this to my sons again the other night and they love it. My eight-year-old saying, as I finished, "This was his imagination, right? He wasn't really with the wild things."
The story is so simple that the reader/listener can follow but interpret and add to it in their own imagination. The artwork, truly classic, captures the right amount of a child's imagination ... making the wild things creepy and scary ... and yet not quit...more
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Read in January, 1978
I don't really remember, so lets turn to Wikipedia, sha'll we?
The book tells the story of Max, who one evening plays around his home, "making mischief" in a wolf costume (chasing the dog with a fork, etc.). As punishment, his mother sends him to bed without supper. In his room, a mysterious, wild forest grows out of his imagination, and Max journeys to the land of the Wild Things. They are fearsome-looking monsters, but Max conquers them with a scary look and he is made the King of...more
The book tells the story of Max, who one evening plays around his home, "making mischief" in a wolf costume (chasing the dog with a fork, etc.). As punishment, his mother sends him to bed without supper. In his room, a mysterious, wild forest grows out of his imagination, and Max journeys to the land of the Wild Things. They are fearsome-looking monsters, but Max conquers them with a scary look and he is made the King of...more
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Read in January, 1978
recommends it for:
whoever has an imagination
I didn't read this book as a child, my mother not being the sort of woman to encourage her children to be wild things. However, when I accidentally burned down part of my dorm room in college, my roommate, a good sort who put up with the smell of melted plastic for weeks thereafter, presented me with a copy to make me feel better (mind you, I had to deal with housing administration etc.) Max and I were buds from then on.
My children, all wild things without encouragement from me, have grown...more
My children, all wild things without encouragement from me, have grown...more
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"The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind..." These are probably the best 13 opening words ever written in the history of picture books.
Sendak is a master of brevity, telling poignant stories in less words than most of us use to talk about the weather. His approach to children's literature is honest and non condescending. He remembers what is was like to be a child, and through his storytelling reminds the rest of us how our perception of the world was when...more
Sendak is a master of brevity, telling poignant stories in less words than most of us use to talk about the weather. His approach to children's literature is honest and non condescending. He remembers what is was like to be a child, and through his storytelling reminds the rest of us how our perception of the world was when...more
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This is one of the best children's picture books ever! Poor Max! He gets sent to his room without his supper for being too wild and mischievous. While he is in his room he lets his imagination take him through time to another world, where he is hailed king of all wild things until the smell of his supper waiting for him lures him back to his room. I was already a parent when I first read this book and I remember thinking, "What?" "Send my boy to his room without supper?" &quo...more
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This book is really cute and can be used in various lesson.
It is about a little boy named Max, i believe, but he has a vivid imagination and encounters monsters that think that he is the King.
We used this book in my theater class. it is great for children to act out and use their own imagination. They can incorporate it into writing, if they want to write about a place that they create and they run into different obsticles. In my class, we acted it out, each taking turns being Max, and ...more
It is about a little boy named Max, i believe, but he has a vivid imagination and encounters monsters that think that he is the King.
We used this book in my theater class. it is great for children to act out and use their own imagination. They can incorporate it into writing, if they want to write about a place that they create and they run into different obsticles. In my class, we acted it out, each taking turns being Max, and ...more
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Max, the main character of this book, influenced me so much that I spent the majority of my childhood coming home and trying to explain why I got another "white slip" from my teacher. I have but one regret, I wish I had gotten more. After all, three white slips meant a trip to Principal Burger's office. We called her Principal Hamburger when she wasn't looking. Principal Booger was also a favorite. She always got mad and said, "Who said that?" We'd play dumb and look around a...more
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