Maurice Sendak

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were nightmarishly scary stories of pogroms, death, love affairs, and other Jewish tales. His brother wrote stories, and his sister bound the stories into books that they sold on the sidewalks. Sendak loved hearing his father tell stories, and associates good books with being close and spending time with his father. Everyone in his family also read stories, and growing up, Sendak was jealous of his older siblings who could read words. He would even beg his sister to bring him books from the library (as opposed to children’s books), just so he could smell, touch, and taste them. His sister also gave him his first book, The Prince and the Pauper, by Mark Twain. Although he could not even read it at the time, Sendak slept with the book, and still has it today.
In 1947, at the age of nineteen, Sendak co-authored and published his first book, Atomics for the Millions. He began his illustrating career by drawing comic book pictures. In 1951, Sendak began freelance illustrating ...

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for him (and it is still hot).
Sendak based the monsters in Where the Wild Things Are on his Jewish relatives, who would come to their house when he was growing up, with their foul breath and big, yellow teeth. He has also said that the title of the book was supposed to be “Where the Wild Horses are,” but he was not successful at drawing horses, so his editor changed the title to “things,” as that was something that Sendak could definitely draw. This book won the Caldecott Medal the following year. It was also made into an opera, in which Sendak not only wrote the libretto, but also designed the sets and costume. Where the Wild Things are also became part of Bell Atlantic’s ...

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