Sendak, Maurice

Maurice Sendak was born June 10, 1928, in Brooklyn, New York. He began his art career as a cartoonist and display artist, and in the 1940s he started to illustrate children's books. Sendak illustrated many well-known author's books in the early years of his career, including Meindart De Jong, Ruth Krause, Charlotte Zolotow, and Janice Udry; he also illustrated Else Holmelund Minarik's Little Bear series. In the 1950s he began to write children's picture books. Throughout his long career he has continued to illustrate his own and other author's works, retellings of folk and fairy tales, and to write and direct plays for children, as well as to write for adults. He has been honored many times by the Caldecott committee, winning the Medal in 1964 for Where the Wild Things Are, and the Caldecott Honor for A Very Special House; Little Bear's Visit; The Moon Jumpers; Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present; In the Night Kitchen; Outside Over There; What Do You Say, Dear? . He has also illustrated a number of Newbery Honor books. He was one of the first authors/illustrators to deal honestly and openly with the feelings of young children, and their emotional reality. He vividly brings to life their dreams and fantasies, and how they make discoveries about themselves and their world. He also uses flights into adventure and/or fantasy to help children deal with their feelings of anger, sadness, etc. recognizing that all of these are present in the young child, and they need to be able to come to grips with them. Some of Sendak's detractors claim that he is too serious in some of his works, but Sendak, and many other critics, assert that children should not and can not be shielded from reality and harsh truths. Sendak continues to write and and illustrate children's books that challenge readers and critics to look at the world of the young child from new perspectives, and to appreciate the way Sendak brings this world of young children and their feelings and fantasies to life. Biographical Sources: Something About the Author, vols. 1, 27, 113 Children's Literature Review, vol. 74

From the guide to the Maurice Sendak Papers, 1951-1965, (University of Minnesota Libraries Children's Literature Research Collections [clrc])

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