Born in Brooklyn on June 10th (coincidently, my birthday) 1928, Sendak has illustrated over 70 books and written at least 15 himself. He has also derived animated films for many of his stories, as well as stage productions of Where The Wild Things Are and Really Rosie. Currently, he illustrates the animated series Little Bear on Nickelodeon. Sendak grew up a sickly child who was not allowed to go outside often. Therefore, being the youngest child in a family of three, he was left alone with his imagination. He enjoyed drawing and reading from an early age, but was often dissatisfied with the children books that were available to him. He attempted to read what he called "real books" even when he was a young child; he felt it was an embarrassment even to enter the childrens' section of the library. Sendak writes the type of books he wish

is through fantasy that children achieve catharsis. It is the best means they

Kovacs, Deborah and Preller, James. (1991) Meet The Authors and Illustrators, vol.1. New York: Scholastic, Inc.

The plot of the story also emerged from accumulated childhood memories. Sendak recalls seeing a running advertisement for the Sunshine Bakers as a child. The slogan which appeared said, "We Bake While You Sleep." Sendak remembers being most irritated by this ad; how dare they bake while he slept?! He wanted to stay up with them; he felt it was absolutely cruel for them to go off to some magical land to bake while he was forced to go to sleep. He designed this book as a sort-of vendetta, "To let them know that I was now old enough to stay up late at night and know what was happening In the Night Kitchen."

This book inspired an animated film called Really Rosie. Rosie has made new friends, or as Sendak puts it "enslaves" the Nutshell Kids, who carry out her fantasies with her. The Nutshell Kids evolved from several books which form a literary collection called The Nutshell Library. These books are all very small in size, each one only about 2 1/2 by 4 inches. This quartet consists of books with different purposes: an alphabet book called Alligators All Around, a counting rhyme book entitled Once Was Johnny, a months and seasons book called Chicken Soup With Rice, and a "cautionary tale" entitled Pierre. Together, these books gave Sendak the nickname of, "The Picasso of children's books." However, each one is unique and special in its own way, and serves an essential purpose in educating and entertaining children.

Weston Woods Studios (1996). The Maurice Sendak Library. (video recording).Weston, Connecticut: Weston Woods Studios: Scholastic.

My personal favorite book in The Nutshell Library is Pierre. Its mere presence as "a cautionary tale" among the three necessities of learning the alphabet, counting and the months of the year is bizarre, yet when we read Pierre we see its lesson is just as valuable.

ed he had as a child; entertaining stories which are not limited by any effort to make things so simple for children that they become mundane.

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Approximate Word count = 2166
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)