Where the Wild Things Are (book)

Imagine sitting on a bookshelf, waiting for little hands to pick you up. My cover is dark blue, and right in the middle, a furry monster is fast asleep. If you listen closely when you open me, you can almost hear the rustle of leaves and the lapping of ocean waves. My paper pages promise a big adventure, a journey to a faraway place where anything can happen. Inside, a boy named Max wears a wolf suit and gets into all sorts of trouble. He’s about to sail across the sea to a land you won’t believe. Do you want to know who I am. I am the book, Where the Wild Things Are, and this is my story.

I was brought to life by a wonderful man named Maurice Sendak. He was an artist who loved to draw and tell stories for children. On October 2nd, 1963, he finished putting me all together with his special pens, inks, and paints. Maurice knew that sometimes kids have really big feelings, like being angry or frustrated, and that’s okay. He wanted to create a safe place for those feelings to live. That’s why he created Max. Max is a boy with a huge imagination who wears a wolf suit. One night, he made so much mischief that his mother called him a "WILD THING" and sent him to his room without any supper. But Maurice understood that Max wasn't just being naughty. He was exploring his big feelings, and he needed a special adventure to help him understand them. Maurice made my pages a place where Max could be as wild as he felt, and then find his way back home.

The real magic begins when Max is alone in his room. Inside my pages, you can watch the walls disappear as a forest grows all around him. The ceiling becomes covered in vines, and suddenly, there is an ocean right there in his bedroom. A little boat with Max’s name on it appears just for him. He steps inside and sails for almost a year to an island where the Wild Things live. Oh, they look so scary at first. They have “terrible roars” and “terrible teeth” and “terrible claws”. But Maurice drew them to look a little bit sad, too. They were just lonely and wanted a friend to play with. Max wasn't scared. He used a magic trick—staring into all their yellow eyes without blinking once. This calmed them right down. They were so impressed that they made him the king of all Wild Things. And then, Max shouted, “Let the wild rumpus start.”

Being the king and having a wild rumpus was so much fun. Max and the Wild Things danced and swung from the trees. But after all the excitement, Max started to feel a little lonely. He missed his home, where someone loved him best of all. So, he said goodbye to his new friends and sailed all the way back to his room. When he got there, the forest and the ocean were gone. Everything was just as he had left it. And waiting for him on his little table was his supper, and it was still hot. I love that part. I show every child who reads me that it is okay to feel wild sometimes, but it's also wonderful to come home to a place where you are loved. I hope I can always inspire you to have your own wild rumpus in your imagination.