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Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak (1963)

‘We’ll eat you up—we love you so!’

by
Marjorie Ingall
September 17, 2013

Has any picture-book author written about the raw, clenched-teeth fury of childhood as well as Maurice Sendak? Has any anyone ever put so much mystery, beauty, humor, rage, and forgiveness into 300-some words? And has anyone so perfectly articulated the perils (and complex pleasures) of rage and powerlessness and motherly love? There’s a reason generations of parents and children have sailed over a year and in and out of weeks and through a day and into the night and back, with Max.

Marjorie Ingall is a former columnist for Tablet, the author of Mamaleh Knows Best, and a frequent contributor to the New York Times Book Review.