Maurice Sendak
American children's book author and illustrator of Where the Wild Things Are.
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Maurice Bernard Sendak was a children's book author and illustrator from the United States. His parents were Polish-Jewish immigrants, and the loss of many relatives in the Holocaust shaped his early life. He is best known for Where the Wild Things Are (1963), which began a trilogy that also includes In the Night Kitchen (1970) and Outside Over There (1981). According to critic Margalit Fox, Sendak was "the most important children's book artist of the 20th century," who "wrenched the picture book out of the safe, sanitized world of the nursery and plunged it into the dark, terrifying and hauntingly beautiful recesses of the human psyche."
Early life
Sendak was born in Brooklyn, New York, on June 10, 1928, to Sadie and Philip Sendak, a dressmaker. He described his childhood as a "terrible situation" because the Holocaust introduced him to mortality at a young age. He fell in love with books while bedridden due to health problems, and was captivated by Mickey Mouse, American comics, and the lights of Manhattan. At twelve, after seeing Walt Disney's Fantasia, he decided to become an illustrator.
He was the youngest of three children, with an older brother, Jack, who also wrote children's books, and an older sister, Natalie. Sendak once said he was working on a book about noses in 2011, a fascination he credited to his brother’s prominent nose. He studied at the New York Art Students League under John Groth, who taught him about motion and liveliness in illustration. Sendak’s professional career began in 1947 with illustrations for Atomics For the Millions.
Author and illustrator
One of Sendak's first professional commissions, when he was 20 years old, was creating window displays for the toy store FAO Schwarz. This led to his first children's book illustrations for The Wonderful Farm. He illustrated eight books by Ruth Krauss, including A Hole Is to Dig, and the first five Little Bear books. The Maurice Sendak Foundation names Krauss, Nordstrom, and Crockett Johnson as his mentors.
His solo debut was Kenny's Window (1956), followed by the Nutshell Library (1962). Sendak said Nordstrom treated him like a “hothouse flower,” watering him for a decade and selecting the works that became his career foundation. Where the Wild Things Are brought him international fame. It features a boy named Max who rages at his mother and is sent to bed without supper.
Lore & Background
Sendak gained international acclaim after writing and illustrating Where the Wild Things Are (1963), edited by Ursula Nordstrom. It features Max, a boy who "rages against his mother for being sent to bed without any supper." The book's depictions of fanged monsters concerned some parents when it was first published. Sendak explained that the title came from the Yiddish phrase vilde chaya, or "wild beast": "It's what almost every Jewish mother or father says to their offspring, 'You're acting like a vilde chaya!
Stop it!'" It won the Caldecott Medal. In the Night Kitchen (1970) is "a further exploration of a boy's fantasy world, this time closely based on Sendak's childhood memories of New York life." Sendak explained: "It was an homage to everything I loved: New York, immigrants, Jews, Laurel and Hardy, Mickey Mouse, King Kong, movies. I just jammed them into one cuckoo book." It has often been censored for its drawings of a young boy prancing naked through the story.
Outside Over There (1981) is the story of a girl named Ida and her sibling jealousy and responsibility. Carpenter and Prichard write, "More dark in subject matter than Where the Wild Things Are and In the Night Kitchen, it was published on both adult and children's book lists." Sendak also illustrated the first five books in Else Holmelund Minarik's Little Bear series. He designed sets for operas, notably Mozart's The Magic Flute.
Reader's Guide
Maurice Sendak's significance lies in his profound impact on children's literature, pushing the boundaries of what picture books could address. As described by Margalit Fox, he 'wrenched the picture book out of the safe, sanitized world of the nursery and plunged it into the dark, terrifying and hauntingly beautiful recesses of the human psyche.' His trilogy—Where the Wild Things Are, In the Night Kitchen, and Outside Over There—explored themes of anger, fantasy, and sibling jealousy. Where the Wild Things Are was adapted into an opera by Oliver Knussen and a film by Spike Jonze.
Sendak received the National Medal of Arts in 1996. He was the subject of an American Masters documentary, "Mon Cher Papa" (1987), and his career was chronicled in Lance Bangs's Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak (2009). In 1993, Sendak published We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy, about the AIDS crisis.
Later, he collaborated with playwright Tony Kushner on a new English-language version of the Holocaust opera Brundibár, published as an illustrated book in 2003. His last published work before his death was Bumble Ardy (2011), adapted from his Sesame Street short. My Brother's Book (2013) was published posthumously.
Did You Know?
- When he was 12, he decided to become an illustrator after watching Walt Disney's Fantasia (1940).
- A little boy named Jim loved a card Sendak sent him so much that he ate it—Sendak called it 'one of the highest compliments I've ever received.'
- Sendak's In the Night Kitchen has been challenged in several U.S. states including Illinois, New Jersey, Minnesota, and Texas.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Maurice Sendak?
Maurice Sendak was an American author and illustrator of children's books, born in 1928 to Polish-Jewish parents and passing away in 2012. He is best known for creating and illustrating the landmark 1963 picture book Where the Wild Things Are.
What books make up the Maurice Sendak trilogy?
The trilogy consists of Where the Wild Things Are (1963), In the Night Kitchen (1970), and Outside Over There (1981). Each book follows a child protagonist navigating imaginative, often unsettling worlds.
What inspired Maurice Sendak's dark and imaginative stories?
Sendak's creative work was deeply shaped by his childhood experiences, including the loss of many family members during the Holocaust. This personal trauma helped him move children's literature away from purely gentle, sanitized narratives toward darker, more emotionally complex territory.
What is Where the Wild Things Are about?
The story follows a mischievous boy named Max who, after being sent to bed without supper, imagines sailing to a land of wild creatures and becoming their king before eventually returning home. It was published in 1963 and became one of the most celebrated picture books of all time.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Maurice Sendak (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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