This is a childhood book I had that was hugely whimsical, creative, and as always by Sendak, fascinatingly drawn. The Winsor McCay “Little Nemo” influences are all over the place. Sendak did a lot of children’s books, and in some ways was like a more serious alternative to Dr. Seuss.

Image
https://www.lambiek.net/artists/image/s/sendak_maurice/sendak_m_cerealbabykeller.jpg
’Cereal Baby Keller’, from ‘Little Lit - Strange Stories for Strange Kids’ (2001).

Lambiek article on him:
https://www.lambiek.net/artists/s/sendak_maurice.htm

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https://d26jxt5097u8sr.cloudfront.net/s3fs-public/styles/width_1400/public/2023-10/Wild%20Things%20header%2072%20dpi.jpg

Wild Things (above) is perhaps his most famous work, a scary-fun children’s classic.

More here on Wild Things:
https://www.denverartmuseum.org/en/exhibitions/wild-things-art-of-maurice-sendak

The Comics Journal interview just before his death:
https://www.tcj.com/maurice-sendak-qa/

Image
https://the-comics-journal.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/sendak-milli.jpg

Someone once said that Maurice Sendak, children’s book author and illustrator, drew “little old people worrying away their childhoods.” It’s true: Sendak’s work is remarkable for its lack of sentimentality and its depiction of childhood as it really is, a time of coming to grips with the sometimes unpleasant and frightening world around you — a reality that children’s literature often tries to ignore. What his work also contains is a genuine sensitivity to the complexity and intelligence of children…