Where the Wild Things Are Add a review

Where the Wild Things Are is a 1963 children's picture book written and illustrated by American author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, originally published in hardcover by Harper & Row. The story follows Max, a mischievous boy in a wolf suit who causes havoc at home and is sent to his room without supper, where his imagination transforms the room into a jungle and carries him across the sea to an island inhabited by large, monstrous creatures called Wild Things.

The book received the Caldecott Medal in 1964, with librarians recognizing Where the Wild Things Are as the previous year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It was voted the number one picture book in a 2012 survey of School Library Journal readers, not for the first time. The book has been adapted into other media several times, including an animated short film in 1973 (with an updated version in 1988); a 1980 opera; and a live-action 2009 feature-film adaptation. The book had sold over 19 million copies worldwide as of 2009, with 10 million of those being in the United States.