Where the Wild Things Are
Maurice Sendak, 1963
Fantasy Literary fictionContemporary fictionYoung adult
A boy in a wolf suit sails off to be king of the monsters, and finds that wildness and homesickness arrive at exactly the same moment. A wild rumpus of a mood, quick and playful, with a tender ache underneath and pictures that carry as much as the words.
Feels like wonder, tenderness and joy. About freedom, friendship and family.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy picture books that take a child's anger and imagination seriously, or if you are reading aloud with someone small. It is very short and spare, though, so readers looking for a long, detailed story may find it over too soon.
Why read it
It gives you a small, exact story about making a home inside wildness, and Sendak's pictures do half the telling.
A page from the book
The friend everyone counts on, and what it costs to share him.
That’s Douglas. I count on him for everything. If I was stranded on a desert island and could only take one thing, it’d be Douglas. We can share him if you want. Maurice Sendak.Sendak first planned a book called Where the Wild Horses Are, and abandoned it because, by his own admission, he could not draw horses.
Books that feel like this
Where to get it
Some of these links earn us a small commission, at no cost to you. It keeps BookFeed free.
Questions readers ask
- Is Where the Wild Things Are for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy picture books that take a child's anger and imagination seriously, or if you are reading aloud with someone small. It is very short and spare, though, so readers looking for a long, detailed story may find it over too soon.
- What is Where the Wild Things Are like?
- A wild rumpus of a mood, quick and playful, with a tender ache underneath and pictures that carry as much as the words. Feels like wonder, tenderness and joy. About freedom, friendship and family.
- What should I read after Where the Wild Things Are?
- If you liked Where the Wild Things Are, try Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (J.K. Rowling), Looking for Alaska (John Green) and The Raven Boys (Maggie Stiefvater).
A taste of the feed
The courage nobody applauds is the kind you spend on a friend.
It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone · J.K. Rowling
The case for being seventeen and certain nothing can end you.
When adults say, “Teenagers think they are invincible” with that sly, stupid smile on their faces, they don’t know how right they are. We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken. We think that we are invincible because we are. We cannot be born, and we cannot die. Like all energy, we can only change shapes and sizes and manifestations. They forget that when they get old. They get scared of losing and failing. But that part of us greater than the sum of our parts cannot begin and cannot end, and so it cannot fail.
Looking for Alaska · John Green
Why the fullest love can feel, from the inside, like grief.
She recognized the strange happiness that came from loving something without knowing why you did, that strange happiness that was sometimes so big that it felt like sadness.
The Raven Boys · Maggie Stiefvater
Read pages from books like this, one at a time
Keep reading in the feed