World Changer: Wild Thing Creator no more

C 
Maurice Bernard Sendak: June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012. His death in hospital at the age of 83 was the result of a recent stroke. His partner of a half-century, Psychartist Eugene Glynn died five years ago in 2007.

Born of humble background in Brooklyn, New York to Jewish immigrant parents , Maurice has health problems from an early age which fostered his love of books. He decided to become an illustrator at 12 years of age after seeing the Disney film Fantasia.

In 1964, the year I was born, the American Library Association awarded Mr. Maurice Sendak the Caldecott Medal (a top medal in the lterary world) for “Where the Wild Things Are.” This marked the turning point in his career. This was one of my favourite children's books ever.

He followed with with such works as:

• Higglety Pigglety Pop!, Or: There Must Be More to Life (1967) featured heavily in my primary (grade) school reading list
• In the Night Kitchen (1970) which fascinated us kids with the fact that a kids book character was nude
• Outside Over There (1981) - a rather dark and creepy story about a girl who resents her sister. The same sister is kidnapped. 

Mr. Sendak’s other awards included:

•  the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration
• the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award 
• National Medal of the Arts, presented by President Bill Clinton (1996). 
•  New York Times best illustrated books of the year no less than twenty-two times

A posthumous picture book, “My Brother’s Book” — a poem written and illustrated by Mr. Sendak and inspired by his love for his late brother, Jack — is scheduled to be published next February.

And he sailed off through night and day
and in and out of weeks
and almost over a year
to where the wild things are.


Vale Mr Sendak- and thank you for being a World Changer.