WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

By Maurice Sendak
1963

Lovely first edition of the subversive Caldecott-award winner, in the rare original first-issue dust jacket.

Near fine in very good plus jacket.

"[I]t is through fantasy that children achieve catharsis. It is the best means they have for taming Wild Things." - Sendak, Caldecott acceptance speech

After illustrating nearly 50 other books, WILD THINGS was Sendak's first full-color picture book with his own text and illustrations. He took full advantage of that control to push the boundaries of the children's picture book genre. The story of a boy who gets in a fight with his mother and lets out his pent up feelings in a fantastical Wild Rumpus, WILD THINGS focused on the complex inner experience of little Max, acknowledging the reality that children deal with anger, frustration, and fear just as adults do. For this reason, the book was initially not well received: before the rise of New Realism in children's literature, many critics felt children's books ought to model ideal behavior rather than accurately reflect children's emotional experiences. The book made a splash from the very beginning, as Sendak expected it would: many critics advised against buying the book, and some libraries banned it. Readers largely didn't know how to react to its unconventional approach - until it won the Caldecott. WILD THINGS is now one of the best-selling children's books of all time, paving the way for commercial picture books that explore our darker sides and encourage us to make friends with monsters.

Read more: Hanrahan, Works of Maurice Sendak: 1947-1994, A58.

[New York]: Harper & Row, 1963. 9'' x 10''. Original quarter grey cloth, color pictorial paper boards. In original price-clipped color pictorial dust jacket without Caldecott medal, and with 3-paragraph blurb on front flap (blurbs are issue point, not price; ref. Hanrahan). Color pictorial endpapers. Illustrated by Sendak in color throughout. [40] pages. Jacket with some soiling and toning, a few short closed tears minutely reinforced on verso. Book with a bit of bumping to extremities, else clean and bright.

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