controversy

Sendak’s work has inspired and influenced other artists such as Jim Henson’s very popular Muppets, which draw from Where the Wild Things Are. The wild hair, exaggerated facial features, large teeth, and somewhat human limbs of the wild things can be seen in the Muppets. Also much like Max in Where the Wild Things Are, the popular television series Bobby, created by Howie Mandel, includes bedtime monologues.

Maurice Sendak has continued to add to his versatile collection of works and is now widely accepted as a master of children’s literature.

Sendak brought novel ideas to the exploration of how to address the psychological experiences of children in works that were actually intended for them. Although Sendak’s exposure of psychological dimensions in the fantasies that he created coincided with the gradual acceptance of Freud’s ideas after World War II, his work was still breaking boundaries in the field of children’s literature, which many people did not accept immediately with open arms.

Sendak did not try to lighten the edges in his work, and wrote first and foremost for himself. He drew his artistic inspiration from the crosshatching and watercolor styles of George Cruikshank and Wilhelm Busch, yet the content and topic of his work was drawn primarily from his own life and experiences.

One of Sendak’s books to receive a great reaction of both support and opposition was Where the Wild Things Are. This work broke the taboo against the expression of very powerful emotions of childhood as demonstrated by the rambunctious character Max, even more so than in Sendak’s earlier works. Attacks were launched against Sendak, one critic called the story “pointless and confusing”, children’s book author Alice Dalgiesh said “the book has disturbing possibilities for the child who does not need this catharsis.” Child psychiatrist Bruno Bettelheim claimed that Sendak was insensitive to the great fears that children had, however, Bettelheim later supported Sendak and declared that parents should not censor the monsters that children might meet so they could deal with the monster a child felt himself to be (Cech 1995). Another prominent voice, Brian O’Doherty, the art critic for the New York Times when Where The Wild Things was published, saw Sendak’s unique talents, and that his work may serve as “a corrective to the many publishes sin of adulthood against childhood—the sops, the cozy insults, the condescensions. He knows that children live in wonder, a state that opens them nakedly to joy, desire, and a world full of sudden and fearful possibilities.” The following year, 1964, Where the Wild Things Are was awarded the Caldecott Medal.

The star of a number of Sendak’s book’s, Rosie, was based upon a child who he often observed and sketched from the window of his parents’ Brooklyn apartment. He connected with Rosie because she was a dramatic, creative child, who could only get the attention of other children if she could grab them imaginatively. Sendak, as a struggling artist, was very much like her. Rosie was unlike the docile, unimaginative children of previous storybooks. The exposure of six-year-olds to true characteristics and other aspects were to continue in Sendak’s works.

Pierre, the main character of The Nutshell Library, was not afraid to snap back at his mother and say, “I don’t care!” Sendak made it clear that both Pierre and his mother got annoyed with each other, and there was tension in the family, which was very unfamiliar in children’s books. The story became a fantasy when Pierre’s imagination ran wild and a lion confronted him and asked if he’d like to die. Although Sendak dealt with some dark themes in this tale, Pierre emerged from the belly of the lion with a renewed sense of calm and the balance between him and his parents was restored.

Sendak has an amazing ability to present the view of the world through a child’s eyes. In some cases, it creates discomfort in critics, especially parents. When In the Night Kitchen was published, Sendak received a great deal of criticism due to an illustration of a naked boy. Nudity in a children’s book was ill received by many, in one local public library, someone drew pants on the picture of the naked boy, Mickey (O’Keeffe 2005). Sendak mentioned that it was not the first time this has happened.