Where the Wild Things Are is a 1963 children's picture book by American writer Maurice Sendak, originally published by Harper & Row. The book is about the wild adventure of a boy named Max who is sent to his room without his supper by his mother as punishment for misbehaving. Max wears a distinctive wolf costume during his adventures and encounters various mythical creatures, the "wild things". Although just ten sentences long, the book is generally regarded as a masterpiece of American illustrated children's literature.
The book tells the story of Max, who one evening plays around his home, "making mischief" in a wolf costume by chasing the dog with a fork and growling at his mom. 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. The Wild Things are fearsome-looking monsters, but Max conquers them "by staring into their yellow eyes without blinking once," and he is made "the King of all Wild Things." However, he soon finds himself lonely and homesick, and he returns home to his bedroom, where he finds his supper waiting for him, still hot.
Background
The original concept for the book featured horses instead of monsters. According to Sendak, his publisher made the switch when she discovered that he could not draw horses, but thought that he "could at the very least draw 'a thing'!".[2] He replaced the horses with caricatures of his aunts and uncles, whom he had studied critically in his youth as an escape from their weekly visits to his family's Brooklyn home.[2][3] When working on the opera adaptation of the book with Oliver Knussen, Sendak gave the monsters the names of his relatives: Tzippy, Moishe, Bruno, Emile, and Bernard.[4]
Francis Spufford suggests that the book is "one of the very few picture books to make an entirely deliberate, and beautiful, use of the psychoanalytic story of anger".[5]
Background
The original concept for the book featured horses instead of monsters. According to Sendak, his publisher made the switch when she discovered that he could not draw horses, but thought that he "could at the very least draw 'a thing'!".[2] He replaced the horses with caricatures of his aunts and uncles, whom he had studied critically in his youth as an escape from their weekly visits to his family's Brooklyn home.[2][3] When working on the opera adaptation of the book with Oliver Knussen, Sendak gave the monsters the names of his relatives: Tzippy, Moishe, Bruno, Emile, and Bernard.[4]
Francis Spufford suggests that the book is "one of the very few picture books to make an entirely deliberate, and beautiful, use of the psychoanalytic story of anger".[5]
In the Now: Sendak at Maurice Sendak is 81, but he still knows what children know--that life is risky business, that there is trouble in the world, and sorrow, fear and violence--especially violence.
From his 1963 book, Where the Wild Things Are, to his newest offering, Sendak--a slightly wild looking man with imposing eyeglasses--has given young readers generous credit for what they know.
In doing so, he gives children a respect they rarely receive from more traditional children's writers. And it is a gift, he says, that empowers kids to protect themselves, to fight back, to
survive.
From his 1963 book, Where the Wild Things Are, to his newest offering, Sendak--a slightly wild looking man with imposing eyeglasses--has given young readers generous credit for what they know.
In doing so, he gives children a respect they rarely receive from more traditional children's writers. And it is a gift, he says, that empowers kids to protect themselves, to fight back, to
survive. 
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