Children's-book giant Sendak reflects on career
Maurice Sendak's face resembles, in a benevolent way, the expressive features of the wild monsters he drew in his award-winning book "Where the Wild Things Are." The similarity is not surprising given that Sendak modeled the monsters in his book on the unkind aunts and uncles that he remembers from his childhood.Sendak, one of the leading visionaries in children's literature, spoke yesterday evening to a crowd of all ages at McCosh 50 in a speech and question-and-answer session sponsored by the Council for the Humanities.When Sendak's most famous book, "Where the Wild Things Are," came out in 1963, it was considered by some critics too scary for children with its drawings of grotesque monsters hanging from trees and beating pots and pans in a dark wood.Other critics believed that the book was inappropriate for children because it was about a boy who disobeys his mother and tells her, "I want to eat you up." Despite the criticism, however, the book was incredibly successful."Adults were critical of the book, but children loved it," Sendak said.Sendak has written and illustrated 19 books and has illustrated more than 60 others.