This is probably the blog I have been looking most forward to thus far. My childhood consisted of reading many children’s stories which have helped shape my imagination today. Children book authors such as Dr. Seuss and Eric Carle with The Very Hungry Caterpillar were marvelous reading material (Napping House too!). These types of books made me want to read because I was always intrigued about what was on the next page. It kept me interested and entertained aiding the evolution of my young mind.
I’ve decided to use the children’s book, Where the Wild Things Are for this blog post. This is hands down my favorite children’s book. I honestly cannot tell you how many times I’ve read this over and over and have yet to grow weary of Maurice Sendak incredible masterpiece. Written in 1963, Where the Wild Things Are is a children’s picture book that has been engaged in the media ever since its birth. Movies, operas and other remakes of this children’s book have been created. It’s no wonder why the book has sold over 19 million copies worldwide.
It starts off introducing the protagonist of the story, Max. The young boy is curious about the world as most of us are at this age; however Max enjoys making mischief around his home in his infamous wolf costume. Due to his earlier shenanigans, Max is sent to his room without super as punishment from his mother. We soon see the max has an incredible imagination because while he is stuck in his room, wild forests along with a sea start to develop. Max begins to sail across the sea to the land of the Wild Things. Wild Things appear to be fearsome looking monsters until Max reveals that he is the fiercest and gains their respect while conquering them by “staring into all their yellow eyes without blinking once.” He soon becomes the king of the Wild Things celebrating throughout the night. During the conclusion of this wonderful novel, Max begins to feel homesick and decides to return home. Max finds himself back in his bedroom where he realizes his still hot supper awaits for him. Like most children books, the stories are very simple, but the detail that has been poured in and the philosophical insight these books hold for a child is essential to a dynamic character. It allows us to use our imagination and practice different ways to eliminate our dilemmas in life. Without doubt, lessons we could all use as we grow older.
The Official Blog of WRTG 3007, Summer 2012 
I LOVED Where the Wild Things Are growing up! It always used to scare me a little bit but I thought I was really cool when my parents would read it to me and I could sleep by myself afterwards! I forgot the plot line a little and was really interested to read your analysis, Max was just such a great character. After reading the analysis I began to think of Monster’s Inc for some reason, I think the two have a few similarities and I wouldn’t be surprised if Pixar threw in some! When it comes to other children’s books that you mentioned The Very Hungry Caterpillar was actually my favorite book (besides rainbow fish) and actually inspired a lot of my recent prints! I think the use of pictures in children’s books is what drove us to read more and want to know what was on the next page. We didn’t have the full understanding of language yet but we could understand pictures so it gave us a knowledgeable base for the story!
I am so glad you chose to wrote about this book. What a classic! Great job summarizing the plot of the story. I appreciate that you brought up the pictures in the book. I can remember as a kid not really understanding the style of the images. I guess they seemed more muted or more matte than I was used to seeing in other children’s books at that time. Do you think this book could have been as successful if a different style of images accompanied the text? Do you have a favorite picture from the book?
I recall not understanding when I was young that the place to which Max travels wasn’t real, but instead part of his imagination. Can you expand on your thoughts about the philosophical components to the book? I think this is really interesting, considering the book was written with such a young audience in mind. Do you think all children’s books attempt to include something philosophical, or is this unique to Max and his world?
This is a great book. I’ve read it so many times but not for a long time, so it was weird to read your summary of it. I can kind of remember the things that you talk about but I think the way I experienced that book as a kid was a lot different. I really liked that you said it was philosophical insight for children. I think that’s definitely true, children’s books have a lot more depth for children than I think most adults remember. I remember how amazing picture books were when I was a child, it was an insightful experience that often changed by entire perspective on the world. I think Maurice Sendak himself said something about being an author of children’s books for years and still not really understanding what they are. I just thought that was interesting.