Where the Wild Things Are

Rating:
Summary: Classic
Review: I read this book as a child, and I remember being fascinated by its vivid illustrations and accompanying storyline. This book will awaken every child's imagination!

Rating:
Summary: 35 YEARS LATER I STILL LOVE IT
Review: There's a particular sense of joy you get as a parent when you can share something with your kids that you loved as a child. Sadly so many things that we liked of popular culture of our days is no longer around to share with our kids. Our TV shows are long gone for the most part, as well as the toys we played with. But there are a few examples. For one, I love being able to sit with ky kids during the holiday season and watching things like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and "A Charlie Brown Christmas" It's just too bad they no longer have the Dolly Madison commercials!

Where the Wild Things Are is another thing I can share with my kids that I experienced. To think that 35 years later this wonderful book about the imagination of a child is still a top seller is amazing. Funny and imaginative with beasts that look scary but never are make this a book that transends generations. The beautiful illustrations take me back to the days when this was a regular read for me. My 13 year old loved it and my two year old now loves it as well.

Rating:
Summary: Makes my heart sing, makes everything groovy
Review: I have loved this book ever since I was a child. It's funny, offbeat, zingy, zesty, and exotic. It's in the tradition of ALICE IN WONDERLAND or maybe Dr. Seuss, if Dr. Seuss got all hopped up on Red Bull. Fantastically illustrated by the author, this book is not only imaginative, but it inspires further flights of imagination from the reader. (Look at those pictures again and again and tell me you don't see something new every time you do!) It's still a lot of fun for me to read, now nearly 40 years after I was a little "wild thing" myself.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent picture book - Colors are a bit dull
Review: A nice, imaginative story about a kid named Max and his imaginary monsters.
This book is very fun to read out loud at bedtime.

Depending on your taste, you might consider the illustrations to be a *bit* outdated. Even though the illustrations are beautiful and full of detail, the colors are a bit too dull for my taste (and my kids).

Rating:
Summary: Love Those Wild Things
Review: I loved this book as a child. I remember thinking it was magical and loving the illustrations. I wondered when I bought it if my girls would love it as much as I did and they do! They are 2 and 5 and it is one of their favorite stories. I would definitely recommend this book to parents of young children.

Rating:
Summary: Humanimals
Review: While going about My nightly activities, I came upon this delightful hard-cover book and it brought forth an evocation: I remember reading this book in 5th grade when I found it in the school library during a break from My Safety Committee duties - the cover really drew Me in - and though the story was intended for previous gradation, I enjoyed it for its charming simplicity and the adventure of Max, who likes to dress up like a white wolf who used his imagination to fashion his own little total environment in his room, and effectively turns it into a dark jungle for himself, and thus embarks upon a journey that will bring him into the darkest recesses of his imagination, as he visits an island "where the wild things are", which are various projections of himself in the lycanthropic state - veritable Satanimal-like forest demons resembling some of the classic features from demonological arcana - werebeasts all {note the humanoid feet and general mannerisms}, who in the beginning, try to scare him, but he ends up becoming their king, and they show him homage as King of all Wild Things, ruling with sceptor and crown. So they romp together under the full moon, hang from trees, and parade through the glades in a joyous fanfare, until little Max gets a bit bored and longs for something good to eat, and sets off back to his room across the sea again "for over a year", finding his hot supper waiting for him.

It can be seen now that this was but a dream, as he took a famished nap, after having earlier run about the house chasing the family dog and constructing his room to specification with utmost imagination, fading into a nap sometime in the process. I suppose mom could not allow him to starve, so after sending him to his room to ruminate over a comment he made about eating her up, he awakens from his nap and is welcomed back to the table.

Rating:
Summary: Wild things for all ages!
Review: I remember reading this book as a child and now that I have a "wild thing" of my own I can't imagine not owning this book. This is a must have story for all children's libraries in the home. It's the epitome of "imagination gone amok" and just how important it is to use your imagination. I love Maurice Sendak's stories and they always have an overall ending theme that home is where you are safe, warm and loved. From a thirty something Wild thing to the little wild things on the horizon...share this wonderful story of rebellion, imagination and strength of character. While the illustrations may seem scary for little ones, they are easily talked over and explained.

Rating:
Summary: Let the wild rumpus begin
Review: I discovered this book as an adult and loved its whimsy and its wonderful illustrations. When I had my child, I immediately bought it to read to him. It's one of those wonderful childhood books that can be appreciated on a number of levels--it's a fun story, the pictures are neat, and if the child is so inclined, it can be an early "learn to read" kind of book. But a lot of the book's enduring appeal comes from its psychological subtext. Young children often misbehave (and their parents sometimes even compare them to wild animals). But, just as Max finally gets tired of the wild rumpus, they learn to tame their impulses and they come back to their parents who love them dearly. This underlying message speaks to the fears of children--and to their parents as well. This is a great children's book, and I cannot recommend it too highly.