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Growing up as the daughter of an educator, I had access to every book imaginable and the space to enjoy all of them.  I have fond memories of reading this book as a child. I was very drawn to the imagery within the
book and how the characters seemed to come to life. My favorite part of the book was always where Max was creating his sheet fort by hammering the sheet to the wall. Once my younger brother was big enough, we loved creating forts just like Max.

I didn’t realize this book was a banned book until working on finding a title for this assignment. While Max is pretty bratty and the monsters are dark, I see no validity in the concerns that surrounded this book. It never made me think being angry and causing trouble was okay. I loved being able to picture myself on the wild island with a little monster costume like Max.

This book has been in my classroom library since I started teaching nine years ago, and one year my whole second grade team dressed up as wild things for the Halloween story book dress up day. It is definitely one of my student’s favorites and I have never witnessed any negative effects from reading or sharing this book. While I agree that books are powerful and influential, I believe that the power in this book is its way of helping the reader stretch their imagination and escape for the duration of a short picture book.

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What benefits does this book have for students? What could teachers use this title for? 

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What benefits does this book have for students? What could teachers use this title for? 

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Detailed illustrations could serve as a foundation to challenge students' creativity and guide them in the creation of their own graphic novel. This would also be a good text to help show point of view within a story and how it can vary from character to character. This lesson could serve as a springboard for student writing in which they compose an alternate version of the story through the wild things' eyes.

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Is this the only challenged title from Sendak

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Is this the only challenged title from Sendak

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On the ALA's Top 100 Banned/Challenged Book List from 2002009, Maurice Sendak's book In the Night Kitchen ranked number 24. The nudity of the main character, Mikey, was the cause of the controversy surrounding this title.

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Supernatural elements, rebellion, and threats of violence are among the many reasons this book has been banned.  Parents expressed fear that children's dark imaginations would be fed by the dark images and monsters throughout the book. There was also great concern that the anger Max expressed throughout the story would show children it was okay to act that way.  To those in protest of the book, the conclusion of the book with Max's mom leaving his dinner in his room for him showed children there weren't consequences for negative behavior.  One of the complainants, child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim, stated,  “What [Sendak] failed to understand is the incredible fear it evokes in the child to be sent to bed without supper, and this by the first and foremost giver of food and security—his mother.”

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Due to editors' concerns regarding the dark undertones throughout the story, Sendak notes that it took several years to get the book published. The book finally went to print in 1963 and was almost immediately banned in the south with many other libraries following suit.

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“I have read the story of Max about 1,000,000 times and my kids love it too. The illustrations are magical and the text is beyond wonderful. It is one of the most fun and rewarding books for a parent to read to a kid (lots of fun making dancing sounds and monster sounds!) and features joyful plot. A must!” --Michael Finocchiaro

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“Each word has been carefully chosen and the simplicity of the language is quite deceptive.” (SLJ.)
Bird, Elizabeth. 2012, July, 2. Top 100 Picture Books #1: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. Retrieved August 28, 2017 from
http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2012/07/02/top-100-picture-books-1-where-the-wild-things-are-by-maurice-sendak/

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This simply written but subtle book became a classic not only because it legitimized children’s angry feelings—and their ability to use their imaginations to deal with those feelings—but also because it showed punishment and love coexisting in a parent-child relationship. When mischievous Max, wearing his wolf suit, romps around the house and drives his mother to distraction, she calls him “Wild Thing” and sends him to bed without his supper. But in the quiet of his room, a forest grows, where claw-footed monsters with horns, Wild Things just like Max, lurk and leap. Max joins their “wild rumpus” and is made “king of all wild things,” but still he misses his home. When he finally returns, he discovers his supper waiting, and it is still hot. Where the Wild Things Are, which was awarded the Caldecott Medal in 1964, has never gone out of print and is now available in several editions including paperback and a
twenty-fifth anniversary remastered version. The year 2008 is sure to bring even more attention to this beloved children’s book: Dave Eggers will publish an adult novel based on the 338-word story at the same time that a combination live-action and animatronic movie, scripted by Eggers and directed by Spike Jonze, is released. How Jonze will translate Sendak’s exceptional crossed-hatched-watercolor artwork to the screen remains to be seen. — Stephanie Zvirin

Sendak, Maurice. Last, F. M., & Last, F. M. (Year Published). Article title. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), pp. Pages. Where the Wild Things Are. Retrieved August 28, 2017 from: https://www.booklistonline.com/Where-the-Wild-Things-Are-Maurice-Sendak/pid=2381854

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Sendak, Maurice. 1963. Where the Wild Things Are. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.

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Mischievous Max is always causing a ruckus. He is finally sent to his room when his mom has had enough. From there, Max's room transforms and he is whisked away to the land of the wild things. Even though Max is made King, he eventually realizes that sometimes it's okay not to be wild and to just have someone love him.