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Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Death / Books Where the Wild Things Are Author Dies

Posted by Cienna Madrid on Tue, May 8, 2012 at 8:52 AM

Read it and weep:

Maurice Sendak, the children's book illustrator and author whose unsentimental approach to storytelling revolutionized the genre and whose best-known tale was the dark fantasy "Where the Wild Things Are," has died. He was 83.

Sendak, who also was a set designer for opera and film, died Tuesday at a hospital in Danbury, Conn., his friend and caretaker Lynn Caponera said. He had suffered a stroke on Friday, she said.

He had already been proclaimed "the Picasso of children's books" by Time magazine when, in his 30s, he wrote and illustrated "Where the Wild Things Are." It became one of the 10 bestselling children's books of all time.

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This made me so sad when I read it in Eli's post an hour ago on this very blog.

Posted by j.lee on May 8, 2012 at 9:02 AM

And in the morning news.

Posted by The_Shaved_Bear on May 8, 2012 at 9:03 AM

@1, I checked for but somehow missed Eli's post. Thank god we're not running out of internet anytime soon, right?

Posted by Cienna Madrid on May 8, 2012 at 9:05 AM

@3 - Aren't you going to feel stupid when we finally do hit peak internet.

Posted by MacCrocodile

on May 8, 2012 at 9:22 AM

He was openly gay, BTW.

Posted by Chris in Vancouver WA on May 8, 2012 at 9:40 AM

Terry Gross: Can you share some of your favorite comments from readers that you've gotten over the years?

Maurice Sendak: Oh, there's so many. Can I give you just one that I really like? It was from a little boy. He sent me a charming card with a little drawing. I loved it. I answer all my children's letters--sometimes very hastily--but this one I lingered over. I sent him a postcard and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, "Dear Jim, I loved your card". Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said, "Jim loved your card so much he ate it." That to me was one of the highest compliments I've ever received. He didn't care that it was an original drawing or anything. He saw it, he loved it, he ate it.

Posted by Fnarf

on May 8, 2012 at 11:03 AM

@6, thank you for that. I listened to the interview that was linked in an earlier post and got all weepy, then read your anecdote and just laughed...

Posted by Nitidiuscula on May 8, 2012 at 11:56 AM

Shoot, now there's something in my eye.

Posted by Dr_Awesome on May 8, 2012 at 11:58 AM

If Sendak was the Picasso of Children's books, what does that make Dr. Suess? Michelangelo? Van Gogh?

Posted by Some Old Nobodaddy Logged In on May 8, 2012 at 1:35 PM

Alas. I posted in the other thread a color artwork I did just this past Friday that was Sendak-inspired. Must remember, there was also "Pierre", "In The Night Kitchen" & "Chicken Soup with Rice". What imagination & talent.

Made for a pal's recent baby shower:

http://tinyurl.com/75kvets

Posted by Eva Hopkins