Goodbye, Maurice

Maurice Sendak (1928-2012) died last Tuesday (New York Times obituary here), as you probably heard. He wrote and illustrated possibly the most beloved children's book Where the Wild Things Are (HarperCollins, 1971), but was unapologetic about not writing a sequel on the wave of the book's success. You may have sailed  "in and out of weeks" with Max, but it would have been harder to float through the kitchen with Mickey, because the sight of him - sans jammies - outraged some people. Parents bypassed it and libraries banned it. Stacy Conradt writes on Mental Floss, "...it was his later book, In the Night Kitchen, that landed on the American Library Association’s frequently challenged and banned books list. It features a little boy named Mickey, who is nude throughout most of the story, likely because he’s dreaming. 'Have you never had a dream, yourself, where you were totally naked?' he said, when Stephen Colbert asked him about the nudity. (Colbert: 'No.' Sendak: 'I think you’re a man of little imagination' (see entire interview here)." The offending image can be seen here (caution - just kidding!).

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See my previous posts about children's book 

author/illustrator

 Remy Charlip

 Dr. Seuss