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'''''Where the Wild Things |
'''''Where the Wild Things ''''' is a 1963 [[Children's literature|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 strange creatures: the "wild things". The book has been adapted into other media several times, including an animated short, an opera, and, in 2009, a live-action [[Where the Wild Things Are (film)|feature film adaptation]] and [[video game]]. As of 2008, the book has sold over 19 million copies worldwide according to HarperCollins.<ref name=Thornton>Thornton, Matthew (February 4, 2008) [http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6528120.html "Wild Things All Over"]. ''[[Publishers Weekly]]''</ref> |
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==Plot== |
==Plot== |
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Revision as of 20:26, 16 October 2009
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| Author | Maurice Sendak |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Maurice Sendak |
| Genre | Children's picture book |
| Publisher | Harper & Row |
Publication date | 1963 |
| Publication place | United States |
| ISBN | ISBN 0060254920 Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
| OCLC | 26605019 |
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 strange creatures: the "wild things". The book has been adapted into other media several times, including an animated short, an opera, and, in 2009, a live-action feature film adaptation and video game. As of 2008, the book has sold over 19 million copies worldwide according to HarperCollins.[1]
Plot
The text consists of only ten sentences. It tells the story of Max, who one evening plays around his home, "making mischief" in a wolf costume. As punishment, his mother sends him to bed without supper. In his room, a mysterious, wild forest and sea grows out of his imagination, and Max sails 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", dancing with the monsters in a "wild rumpus". 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.
Development history
The original concept for the book featured horses instead of monsters. According to Sendak, his publisher suggested 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.[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]
Literary significance and criticism
The book was immensely popular from its release, and has received high critical acclaim. 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 Selma G. Lanes's book Art of Maurice Sendak, Sendak discusses Where the Wild Things Are along with his other books In the Night Kitchen and Outside Over There as a sort of trilogy centered on children's growth, survival, change and fury.[6][7] He indicated that the three books are "all variations on the same theme: how children master various feelings…"[6]
The book was awarded the Caldecott Medal in 1964.[8] It also won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and was an American Library Association Notable Book.[citation needed]
Adaptations
In 1973 the book was adapted into an animated short directed by Gene Deitch at Krátký Film, Prague for Weston Woods Studios. Two versions were released: the original 1973 version, with narration by Allen Swift and a musique concrete score composed by Deitch; and an updated version in 1988 with new music and narration by Peter Schickele.[9] In the 1980s Sendak worked with British composer Oliver Knussen on a children's opera based on the book, Where the Wild Things Are.[4] The opera received its first (incomplete) performance in Brussels in 1980; the first complete performance of the final version was given by the Glyndebourne Touring Opera in London in 1984. This was followed by its first U.S. performance in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1985. A concert performance was given at The Proms in the Royal Albert Hall, London in 2002.[citation needed]
In the Jim Hensen film, Labyrinth, the character of "Ludo" was supposedly inspired by a creature in Where the Wild Things Are.
A live-action film version directed by Spike Jonze was released on October 16, 2009.[10] The film stars Max Records as Max and Catherine Keener as his mother, with Lauren Ambrose, Chris Cooper, James Gandolfini, Catherine O'Hara, Paul Dano, and Forest Whitaker providing the voices of some of the Wild Things. The soundtrack was written/produced by Karen O. The screenplay was adapted by Jonze and Dave Eggers. Sendak was one of the producers for the film.
Notes
- ^ Thornton, Matthew (February 4, 2008) "Wild Things All Over". Publishers Weekly
- ^ Warrick, Pamela (October 11, 1993) "Facing the Frightful Things". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 27, 2009.
- ^ "Wild Things: The Art of Maurice Sendak". www.tfaoi.com. April 15 – August 14, 2005. Retrieved 28 August 2009.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: date format (link) - ^ a b Burns, p. 70.
- ^ Spufford, p. 60.
- ^ a b Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher (June 1, 1981). "Books Of The Times". The New York Times. Retrieved October 12, 2009.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ Gottlieb, Richard M (2008). "Maurice Sendak's Trilogy: Disappointment, Fury, and Their Transformation through Art". Psychoanalytic Study of the Child. 63: 186–217.
- ^ American Library Association: Caldecott Medal Winners, 1938 - Present. Accessed May 27,2009.
- ^ The Tennessean, Nashville Scene p. 46, March 12, 2009, "Bach in Black" by Russell Johnston
- ^ Sperling, Nicole (September 11, 2008). "'Where the Wild Things Are' gets long-awaited release date". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved September 12, 2008.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help)
References
- Burns, Tom (Ed.) (2008). Children's Literature Review. 131.
{{cite journal}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameters:|coauthors=,|trans_title=, and|month=(help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - Spufford, Francis (2002). The Child That Books Built. Faber.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help)
External links