The Art of Maurice Sendak

Creator of *Where the Wild Things Are, In the Night Kitchen, Hugely Piggletly Pop!*, and the illustrations for dozens of other memorable children’s books, Maurice Sendak ranks among the best-loved artists in America. For nearly 30 years, he has spoken to the child in young and adult alike. A perennial best-seller he is winner of both the Hans Christian Andersen Medal and the Caldecott Medal.

Sendak’s life and work are explored in affectionate detail in this charming, fun-filled book, containing 94 full-color illustrations and over 165 black-and-whites. Author Selma Lanes, a noted book critic and a friend of the artist for a decade, has drawn upon many conversations with him as well as three years of formal research and interviews to write this biography. Easy and intimate, it is enhanced by perceptive quotes from Sendak himself, who cooperated fully in the book’s preparation.

Appropriate to Sendak’s feeling that books should be playful, this book contains a full-color dipped-in facsimile of the tiny mock-up that Sendak first made for the story that would later become *Where the Wild Things Are*. In addition, there are glimpses of the artist’s private world in fantasy sketches, photographs of a group of mechanical toys that he designed and three full-color fold-outs of works from books and films as they’ve never been seen.