Where the Wild Things Are

Where the Wild Things Are

Author and Illustrator: Maurice Sendak

Type: Picture Book

Ages: K-2

Rating: 5 Stars

Summary: Max is wild! He is so wild that he is sent to his room without supper where he then imagines that his room turns into a forest where he sails away to a land where only wild things live. He becomes the king of the wild things and acts as wild as ever, but when he smells food his mother has cooked, he sails back home to where he belongs.

(This book is a winner of The Caldecott Medal in 1964.)

Where the Wild Things Are is in my top five of all time favorite books from my childhood. I remember when my teacher read this to me, I had to have it at home too. I thoroughly enjoy the pictures that look like colored in sketch illustrations of all the characters including Max and all the Wild Things that accompany the story. I always thought it was so cool that Max had such a wild imagination and that when he was sent to his room he came up with a far away land with Wild Things. Whenever I got into trouble as a child I would read this book and imagine what would happen if I were Max.

Children have such wonderful imaginations and we, as educators, should set aside time for our students to use theirs. Writing would be an awesome tool to go along with this book. Students could create their own far away land where they could escape to when they are feeling unhappy or angry. It also helps us along with realizing that sometimes we do silly things and even though we want to run away from them sometimes we should just stay and deal with them instead.