Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
|
List Price: Our Price: $10.25 You Save: $7.70 (43%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $3.19 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Where the Wild Things Are
Book Review: Let the wild rumpus start!
Summary: 5 Stars
So, let's get this straight: I'm 39, I'm an author, I have read Shakespeare, I have a blisteringly high IQ, and yet this book has consistently remained one of the three books I would take in regards to the silly question "If you were stranded on a desert island and were only allowed to bring three books, which three would they be?" Why?
Because, as Jareth, from another great tale, once said "if you turn it this way and that.." Do you understand yet?
It's a children's book because someone claimed it is and children do so love it. It is a very adult book, full of wise counsel, full of lurking madness and mayhem, showing off, in simple wording, the dangers of the world outside our windows. It is endearing and enrapturing.
People will tell you that it's good for building character and it's probably true. They will tell you that there are lessons to be learned inside and of this I am certain.
Don't buy it for those reasons, dear ladies and gentlemen, because those reasons are the by-product of the truth. The truth is that this book is cunningly crafted, absolute, genius in form and function, in line and in text. Buy it, because you'll want to read it so many times that, if you should opt to check it out from the library instead, you are bound to make the librarian cross.
Book Review: Where The WIld Things Are
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is a very good book for young children. It shows very good examples of imagination. In this book a young boy is dressed up in a wolf costume and he tells his mother he is going to eat her up. His mom then sends him to his room without any supper. Max gets very angry and starts to imagine weird things. That night, in his room, a forest grew, and grew and grew. His bedroom wasn't there any more. He went to a land where wild things lived. He was there for more then a year; well that's how it seemed. He met many terrible creatures and they tried to scare him, but the young boy wasn't scared one bit. The young boy could control the creatures and they were afraid of him. While the boy was there he and the creatures had a party and were really crazy. Then the little boy got homesick and he wanted to go home. He decided it was time for him to go home. He hopped back onto his ship and left the island where the wild things are. When he arrived back into his room it was no longer a jungle but it was the room he had had before. The boy was extremely hungry and wanted something to eat...I would rate this book probably a 5 because it has to do with a child's imagination and it is healthy for children to have a good one. I would suggest that you read this book it is very good. In my opinion.
Book Review: Children's book illustration as high art
Summary: 5 Stars
How I wish I was given this book as a child! However no matter what your age you should enjoy this book for its beauty and whimsy.
Before the phrase "a time out" be came part of the mainstream and before the practice became a part of good parenting we see the little hero of this story, Max, being sent to his room for being a "wild thing. However in his room in his mind he travels to a place where real "wild things" live.
The creatures Sendak draws are absolutely
wonderful - they are morphologically frightening chimeras whose sci-fi creepiness is balanced equally with expressions that are over the top on the cute meter. They are rendered masterfully with line shading and colored brightly but serenely.
Max in his monster pjs tames these beasties and rules over this kingdom.
The book is a nice piece of art that any adult will appreciate but for kids it is a great story with more than one message. Its most important message, to my way of thinking, is that in these days when we are teaching people how to be couch potatoes at an ever increasingly early age the imagination is the most rewarding form of entertainment.
"Let the wild rumpus begin!"
Highly recommended.
Jim Connell "Hallstatt Prince"
Book Review: Simple, straightforward insight into a kid's world...
Summary: 5 Stars
I confess to not being the kind of person who is overly fond of children. I don't gravitate towards them, and I think the little ones can sense that - so they keep away from me. And in the end, we're both left happy.
But that is not to say that I don't empathize with kids. In those rare times that I have to be in the company of a gaggle of young ones, I find out how smart and even introspective they are, and how often they are underestimated by adults.
And that's why I appreciate Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. Hardly a hundred pages, but it managed to convey how earnestly simple a child's wants are. They can be as audacious and precocious as they want to be, but, in the end, what it all comes down to is their expression of their need for love and attention.
Sendak's book also imparts how richly endless a child's imagination is. Something that is slowly forgotten as one grows up into adulthood. Such imagination is often supplanted later on with cynicism and distrust.
All in all, this little book full of iconic, elegant illustrations is sure to be a treat to little kids. I may not volunteer to read it to them (I'm really not that kind of a person), but I won't hesitate handing it over as a present.
Book Review: A classic that transcends time
Summary: 5 Stars
This was one of my favorite books when I was growing up. Now that I am a mother, I am thrilled to be able to share this very same story with my own daughter and watch her eyes light up with excitement every time we read it together. My daughter absolutely loves all the colorful, interesting illustrations throughout the book that accompany the equally colorful story. The little imp Max appeals to her "devilish" side, and she laughs with glee as max dons his wolf suit and chases after the dog or as he swings from the vines and marches under the moonlight with the "wild things". This is a book that she really enjoys taking an active part in. How cute it is when she pretends to be one of the wild things...roaring her own little roar and showing her "terrible claws" right along with the story. It is such a wonderful message, too. Max takes an imaginary trip to "Where the Wild Things Are" after being sent to bed without his supper, but even though he becomes King of All Wild Things, he learns that there's nothing more comforting in life than being where he is loved no matter what. And when he "returns" to his room and finds his supper waiting for him, he knows he is truly loved. Such a beautiful story related in a way that both children and adults can relate to.