Author
Maurice Sendak
8 books here
Where the Wild Things Are
Picture book · ages 4–8 · 420L · 1963
A masterpiece that works equally well as a raucous romp and a tender study of anger, wildness, and the pull of home—Sendak's illustrations are the co-author.
In the Night Kitchen
Picture book · ages 4–8 · 1972
Sendak's most joyfully anarchic picture book — the dream logic, the nudity, the jazz-hands energy make it endlessly rereadable and genuinely funny to adults.
The Moon Jumpers
Picture book · ages 4–8
Sendak at his most lyrical—a mood poem dressed as a picture book that captures the exact texture of nighttime outdoor play without a shred of menace or moral.
What Do You Say, Dear?
Picture book · ages 4–8 · 400L · 1958
Sendak's most underrated book — the absurdist humor teaches politeness without preaching, and kids genuinely find it funnier on rereads.
Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present
Picture book · ages 4–8 · 540L
A quiet masterpiece—Sendak's illustrations do half the storytelling, and the girl-and-rabbit partnership feels genuinely collaborative, not saccharine.
A Very Special House
Picture book · ages 4–8 · 450L
Sendak's celebration of joyful chaos and rule-breaking play — the illustrations are the real story, and kids return to this one asking 'read it again?' because the strangeness feels like permission.
Outside Over There
Picture book · ages 4–8 · 1981
Sendak's most ambitious picture book — the prose is poetic, the illustrations are genuinely unsettling-beautiful, and it trusts kids with real emotion and psychological complexity.
Higglety Pigglety Pop!: Or There Must Be More to Life
Picture book · ages 4–8 · 500L
Sendak's strangest picture book — gorgeously illustrated, genuinely surreal, and shot through with real existential appetite; kids find it wonderfully odd, parents discover a book about ambition they didn't expect.