#Maurice Sendak

[sageandscorpiongrass]

Have you ever thought about losing your brother?

me vs. making webweaves on dying and family. really this was just an excuse to think about killing flies.

Killing Flies, Michael Dickman | Separation, W.S. Merwin | Eurydice, Ocean Vuong | It, Stephen King | Winnie-the-Pooh, A.A Milne | Fading Kitten Syndrome, ROAR | Quote via. Maurice Sendak | A Meeting, Wendell Berry | Anguish, August Friedrich Schenck | West Wind I, Mary Oliver | Planet of Love, Richard Siken | Quote via. C.C, Aurel | Oats We Sow, Gregory and the Hawk | The Living to the Dead, Käthe Kollwitz | Quote via Fortesa Latifi | Antigonick, Anne Carson | Killing Flies, Michael Dickman (cont.)

[laurenillustrated]

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

I am doing another 6 Fanarts challenge, but this time I will be drawing characters from 6 popular children’s books. Starting with Max from “Where the Wild Things Are”. Written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. Originally published April 9, 1963.

[lennguine]

there are the wild things

[nobeerreviews]

The magic of childhood is the strangeness of childhood - the uniqueness that makes us see things that other people don't see.

-- Maurice Sendak

[holespoles]

Maurice Sendak illustration, 1959

[jesncin]

Where the Wild Things Are, morals for kids, and queer art

One of my favorite things about this children's book is that the way adults respond to it is a great litmus test for how much they get kids.

At it's core, Where the Wild Things Are is a book about a tantrum. Max misbehaves, is sent to his room without supper, imagines a world where he gets to be in charge and let all his monstrous rage out, but when he's had his fun? "Max the king of all wild things was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all" he says goodbye to the beasts and makes his way back home where "he found his supper waiting for him. And it was still hot." It's still hot. The book describes his journey into and out of Where The Wild Things Are as taking "years, weeks, days" that he can smell his supper "far away across the world" but that's because everything feels so big when you're a kid. Your tantrums feel like they last an eternity but by the time you're back from it, your supper is still hot.

Deep down, Max understands that his mom sent him to bed without supper because she cares about him. Because when he's out having a wild rumpus with the beasts that follow his every command, he still sends them to bed without supper. Max might not understand why, but he sure does repeat that action to the beasts he watches over as king. Supper is still waiting for Max when he returns because his mom understands that even though Max misbehaves, it's not coming from a place of malice. It's a tantrum, and kids come back from that. They don't mean the cruel things they say or do.

So when I see grown ups read this book and go "what the heck?' This book is about a spoiled jerk who gets to boss monsters around and come back home to a nice meal? Where's his punishment??? He didn't learn a thing! What's the lesson?" I'm just amused. "he threatens his mom and she lets that slide??" Dude, the mom calls him a "WILD THING!" and he responds "I'LL EAT YOU UP" a child can't threaten you. "what if this book influences my child to act out, thinking they'll be rewarded??" Kids are going to act out no matter how you raise them.

This book has stayed with me because it's pretty to look at, it scared me, understood me and as I grew older I learned that the author, Maurice Sendak was queer. Sendak was also the son of Polish-Jewish immigrants escaping the Holocaust. He never told his parents he wasn't straight. "All I wanted was to be straight so my parents could be happy. They never, never, never knew." Adults constantly demand moral closure from kids' media. To them, kids have to be taught and disciplined and influenced into the right behaviors. But Where the Wild Things Are isn't that kind of book. This book gave me a space to let out my messy, ugly, tantrum feelings without being judged or punished for it. I didn't have to learn a lesson. I got to go to Where the Wild Things Are and come back when I'm ready.

I'm a children's book author now, and there's something so special about being able to connect to another queer creator through their work like this. My book also talks about how important it is to have the space to just feel and make sense of change. A lot of queer art is inherently challenging. To know that even the stuff we craft to nurture kids can still confound and challenge their parents? "What if this book influences our kids??" some things about queer art never change.

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[spyboy2000]

ᴍᴀᴜʀɪᴄᴇ sᴇɴᴅᴀᴋ Illustrations for the 1995 Kraken edition of Herman Melville's 1852 novel 𝗣𝗶𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗲; 𝗼𝗿, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗺𝗯𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀.

[campsis]

Charlotte and the White Horse

Author: Ruth Krauss, Illustrator: Maurice Sendak

[desimonewayland]

Where The Wild Things Are 1963

Maurice Sendak

Watercolor, ink, and graphite on paper

Apollo Magazine

[sdaedal]

[arinewman7]

Where the Wild Things Are

Illustrations by Maurice Sendak

[laurenillustrated]

Madeline

Where the Wild Things Are

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Halfway done with this art challenge, drawing popular children’s book characters in my style!

[dozydawn]

“A dancer performs as a bird in the Nutcracker Suite. The Pacific Northwest Ballet is well known for its performances featuring sets and costumes by Maurice Sendak. Seattle, Washington, USA.” c. 1970. Photographed by Joel W. Rogers.

[sea-spines]

wild thing, wild thing

[holespoles]

Maurice Sendak