The Wild Rompus

One of my favorite courses in college was a children's literature course where we studied and analyzed picture books, children's poetry, fairy tales, and classic books.  One of the books was the beloved story of my childhood: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.  Forever I will cary with me how incredibly intentional Mr. Sendak was in creating this magnificent work of art.  Not only are the words to the story appealing - an idea to escape from our current world and be transported to another, but also the images of the story truly take you away from the hustle and bustle of daily life.  


Let me get super nerdy and share with you some analysis from the book that I learned forever ago at Western Michigan University.  You start the story with our main character, Max, parading around in costume around his home - a few items scattered around, but what takes up the most space on those first few pages is this: white space.  That's right, blank white paper consumes you.  This is because Max is in the real world.  A world of reality and practicality.  As we move from page to page, the white space decreases as Max begins to use his imagination and we get tag along for the journey.  As he delves deeper, so do we - we take the boat to get to the place where the wild things are.  We are so involved that we eventually reach the point where we too are so enthralled with the tale, words do not even need to describe the great and wonderful Wild Rompus.  This rompus takes place for pages, no dialogue or white space needed, we are 100% using our imagination.  And although Max likes being in this place, he needs to get back to reality.  So, as he begins to move toward going home, words and white space appear again, until he's safe at home.  


It's truly a remarkable tale that I think serves as one of those stories that as a child you instantaneously cling to...  "I want to go where the wild things are!" you may say to your caretaker.  This is exactly what author Maurice Sendak did so perfectly - he created a world that one could only imagine, but everyone wanted to visit.  He created a world that will be forever preserved perfectly in our minds.


I was saddened to hear that this morning, Mr. Sendak passed away at age 83.  And although I'm sure he lived a very long and fulfilling life, I can't help but be a bit saddened that the man who contributed so very much to my childhood imagination has passed.  Thankfully, he gave us a world that we can always visit, and have a wild rompus of our own.