MAURICE SENDAK UNDERSTOOD. He understood that children are not the pure, delicate flowers they are so often made out to be, but wild, curious creatures, full of passion and imagination and mixed-up emotions. He understood that adolescence is just as—if not more—discordant and turbulent than any other stage of one’s life. He understood that growing up is a process that never truly ends.
That’s why his books are almost certainly among the first you remember reading. Sendak’s stories take us to dark, fantastical places—but they always feel familiar, as if those places were inside you all along. They were. And they always will be.
Illustrations by Jeremy Wolf
