Maurice Sendak and art in children's literature

"You can forget the story," says Amanda Craig, "but the image is there forever." She continues, "An embattled headmaster recently told me that all his life he'd carried with him a vision of mountains soaring up to the sky, which consoled him in moments of crisis. He believed he'd invented it, or seen it in a dream. It was only when he read Beatrix Potter to his grandchildren that he realized it was a picture from The Tale of Mrs Tiggywinkle."  

Kate DiCamillo, a Newbery Medal winner and the author of Because of Winn-Dixie wrote, "The first book I read by myself was Else Holmelund Minarik's Little Bear. The illustrations were by Maurice Sendak. Those first words that I read by myself are intimately and forever bound to the art that appeared above them. It was as if the art were the doorway and it ushered me toward the words waiting on the other side. I entered the text through the art. It was one of the most powerful moments of my life."  

Maurice Sendak, author of over a dozen books and illustrator of more than 100 books has sold millions of books and won every top honor in his profession, including the Caldecott Medal and the Hans Christian Andersen Award. When I heard the news of his passing I went to my bookshelf and pulled down my copy of Where the Wild Things Are, his most notable work. The book had been given to me when I first became a children's librarian. In the front my friend wrote, "For all the new little wild things. Congratulations!" A wonderful beginning. 

Mauice Sendak will be missed. "And now,"cried Max, "let the wild rumpus start!"