Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

"Let the wild rumpus start!"
Where the Wild Things Are is a classic children's book that captures the hearts of many children and adults a like. When young max (dressed in wolf pajamas) gets punished and is sent to his room, he escapes into a dream world where he stumbles across big fuzzy "wild things" who welcome him as there new king. Max and the wild things had fun together dancing and swinging from branches. After a while max felt lonely wanted to return home where he knew he would be loved. The wild things begged him to stay, but Max went home and returned just in time for dinner.

Where the Wild Things Are is a short childrens book with a lot of heart. The winner of the caldecott medal for most distinguished picture book of the year, this simple story is so beloved that it was recently made into a motion picture. The pictures in the story, illustrated by Maurice Sendak, capture the story very well. My favortie images are the ones with no text underneath where you see Max and the wild things having fun in the forest. The wild things he created were so unique and different then anything I had seen before.

The story is wonderful for young children to read because it is short and has a wonderful message about the importance of family. Though Max was upset with his parents for punishing him, overtime he grew to miss them and missed being loved unconditionally. I also love that Max found a whole new family off with the wild things and one of my favorite lines in the book is when Max is leaving and the wild things say to him "Oh please don't go, well eat you up, we love you so!" This truly showed that the wild things loved him, but nothing could replace the love of his family.

I will most definitely read this book with my class because I it is one of my favorites and one that I think they will enjoy too.