Happy Belated Birthday, Maurice Sendak!

In keeping with the children's book theme (and no, it was not planned), a big "happy belated birthday" goes out to Where the Wild Things Are author Maurice Sendak, whose birthday was Tuesday, June 10. Where the Wild Things Are was one of my favorite books growing up (as I mentioned in a previous comment). Here's what NPR had to say on his b-day:

It's the birthday of the children's author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, (books by this author) born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1928. He started as an illustrator, and he thought that illustrations shouldn't be used as a way to clarify the text, but as a way to add to its mystery, a way to expand a reader's imagination. He uses his books to explore the complicated psychological world of childhood.

In 1963, he decided to illustrate and write a book, and this book was Where the Wild Things Are, the story of a boy named Max who visits strange lands and strange monsters and then comes home to have his supper. He also wrote In the Night Kitchen (1970), about a little boy named Mickey who travels through a surreal world in the night, a world of giant bakery supplies and huge amounts of cake batter, and in this world Mickey does not have any clothes on, and this has made In the Night Kitchen one of the most banned books in the United States.