Where The Wild Things Are

By: Maurice Sendak (1963)

This book is about a young boy named Max who has a very vivid imagination. The story begins with Max causing trouble around his house in his custom made wolf suit. Because of his actions, Max get sent to his room without supper. Undeterred by this punishment, Max imagines himself sailing across the sea to a strange land filled with scary wild things. Max becomes has some fun with these things and eventually becomes their leader, however, he is lonely because he wasn't near someone that really loved him. He then sails back into his bedroom where he finds his dinner waiting there, still warm.

Having never read this book, I was excited to read it because of how popular it is and because of all the popular reviews it has received. I thought that the pictures of the wild things and their strange land were really well done and it helped you lose yourself in the story. I thought it was a really cute story about a little boy being tough, doing little boy things, until he realizes that he really misses the things he has at home that make him feel safe and loved.

I think that children of all ages would really like this story because everyone at some point has wished that they could travel off to a strange land full of new things. As a teacher I think that you could teach an art lesson along with this book where students had to create their own "wild thing" and describe it's personality. I think that you could also use this book to spark some creative writing ideas where you had students think about what their made up land would look like, who would live there, and how you could travel there.