Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

I remember reading Where the Wild Things Are when I was a kid. I don't know who gave me my copy, probably a relative, because we were poor, but I do remember the way that book made me feel. I knew exactly why Max needed to chase that dog around in his wolf suit, and why he would tell his mother that he'd eat her up. I envied him for being able to sail away from his problems to a land where he was in charge--and he wasn't even scared of the wild things! I wanted to hang in trees and howl at the moon...but eventually I wanted to be my mother's child again too. That book resonates with children because they understand it and see themselves as Max! Iread that book to my nieces and nephews and I love reading it at the library with storytimes--I've never met someone who didn't enjoy it...so, it felt apropos to wind down Banned Book Week 2012 with sharing quotes from this, one of my top 3 favorite picture book of all time. Where the Wild Things Are was banned a...

After reading The Horn Book Magazine 's September/October 2012 article, " Artists Are To Watch: Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss in the 1950s,"--Johnson and Krauss were married, in case you didn't know--an article about the the FBI's belief that Crockett Johnson was one of "400 concealed Communists," I felt compelled to read Ruth Krauss' A Hole is to Dig , because A. I'd never read it before and B. it was illustrated by one of my favs, Maurice Sendak.  A Hole is to Dig (1952) is a child's first book of definitions, written from the point of view of children, which means it results in pages like, "A party is to say how-do-you-do and shake hands" "A party is to make little children happy" From Ruth Krauss' A Hole is to Dig , Mauric Sendak illustrator The book is sweet and simple and will make adults smile and children laugh. Sendak's illustrations, drawings which no doubt helped kick off his career are lovely...

"In plain terms, a child is a complicated creature who can drive you crazy…There's a cruelty to childhood, there's an anger. And I did not want to reduce Max to the trite image of the good little boy that you find in too many books." –Maurice Sendak Thought I would share a little bio info on Sendak: The Forest that grew in Max's Room, Where the Wild Things Are Maurice Sendak was born on June 10, 1928 in NYC. Growing up in Brooklyn, the son of Polish immigrant parents, he was sickly, spending much time indoors left to drawing and reading G ot a part-time job at at All-American Comics while still in high school At the age of 20 (1948),he began working for F.A.O. Schwartz Attended New York Art Students League While working at F.A.O. Schwartz, S endak met legendary children's book editor Ursula Nordstrom who helped him   get his first illustrating job. his first job illustrating children's books. He left F.A.O. Schwartz to become a full-time...

Fall semester 2007 I am taking my final three classes of my Masters' Program! LIS 6510 - Current Literature, PreSchool -3rd Grade LIS 6530 - Young Adult Literature LIS 7996 - Research in Libreary & Information Science My 6530 class is online, my first online class ever, so it may prove more of a challenge. Then again, it may be sinfully easy...who knows? My first 6510 assignment is to bring in my favorite picture book from childhood and be prepared to talk about why it was my favorite. Sounds easy, right...but, oh, such an agonizing decision for me...like Sophie's choice. I previously wrote about this dilemma at the start of the summer, but since the class was cancelled I didn't have to think about my decision all summer. I gave it much thought again yesterday and decided to go with Where the Wild Things Are , by author and illustrator, Maurice Sendak . If you read my original posting on the topic you can see what other books this was up against, and why it is one of ...