'Where the Wild Things Are’ author Maurice Sendak passes away at age 83

[jimmy olsen]

'Where the Wild Things Are' author Maurice Sendak dead at age 83

Children's author and illustrator was best known for classic 'Where the Wild Things Are'

TODAY books
updated 1 hour 5 minutes ago

Maurice Sendak, the children's author and illustrator best known for the 1963 classic "Where the Wild Things Are," died Tuesday in Danbury, Conn., reportedly of complications from a stroke. He was 83.

The Brooklyn-born author, the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland, lost many family members in the Holocaust and spent time in bed with health problems as a child. After seeing the Disney movie "Fantasia" at the age of 12, an experience that influenced his work throughout his career, he decided to become an illustrator.

During the 1950s, Sendak illustrated children's books by other authors before starting to write his own stories. When "Where the Wild Things Are" came out in 1963, its monstrous characters raised concerns from some parents, but the book quickly brought him international acclaim, including the prestigious Caldecott Medal. The book was adapted into a feature film in 2009.

But Sendak wrote and illustrated many other books, including the controversial 1970 work "In the Night Kitchen," about a boy who dreams of helping a baker create a cake in a bizarre kitchen. The book's hero, Mickey, is naked in illustrations throughout the book, and it has freequently been challenged and banned. Other Sendak works include "Outside, Over There" (1981), the story of a girl who is left to care for you younger sister and reluctantly goes to her rescue when the child is abducted by goblins.

Sendak's work extended beyond printed media. He was an advisor to the Children's Television Workshop during the initial development of "Sesame Street" and worked on several animated stories for the show, including an adaptation of his book "Bumble Addy." In 1975 he produced an animated TV special, "Really Rosie," which featured the voice of Carole King. Inspired by a little girl Sendak observed singing and dancing outside during his childhood in Brooklyn, "Really Rosie" has become a staple of children's theater troupes.

Sendak created a stage version of "Where the Wild Things Are" in 1979 and designed opera and ballet sets for such groups as Houston Grand Opera and the New York City Opera. He also collaborated with "Angels in America" playwright Tony Kushner on an English version of the Czech children's opera "Brundibar"; his illustrated book version, featuring text by Kushner, was named one of the 10 best illustrated books of 2003 by the New York Times Book Review.

In addition to his Caldecott Medal for "Where the Wild Things Are," Sendak's many accolades include a 1970 Hans Christian Andersen Award for children's illustration, a 1982 National Book Award for "Outside Over There," a 1983 Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, and a 2003 Astrid Lingren Memorial Award.

Sendak lived with psychoanalyst Eugene Glynn for 50 years before Glynn's death in 2007.

In one of his last public appearances, the outspoken author was a guest of Stephen Colbert on "The Colbert Report" in January. The two traded wisecracks and Sendak gave capsule reviews to children's classics by other authors, including "Green Eggs and Ham" by Dr. Seuss, which he liked, and the 1985 book "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie," which he had little use for.

During the Colbert interview Sendak remarked, "I didn't set out to make children happy!" And yet he did, for many years.

[CountDeMoney]

Colbert will be crushed tonight.

[FunkMonk]

Colbert will be crushed tonight.

That interview is legendary.

[The Brain]

 

[PDH]

Very sad.

He also died in a later Mart thread. 

[Ed Anger]

It pains me, but since Tim is slightly less of an idiot than Mart, I'll bump this thread.

[PDH]

It pains me, but since Tim is slightly less of an idiot than Mart, I'll bump this thread.

I struggled for a while myself.