Maurice Sendak Dies at 83

Cover of Where the Wild Things Are

I sadly report that we lost Maurice Sendak this morning, who died of a stroke in Danbury, Connecticut. Somewhere, I have a well-worn copy of “Where the Wild Things Are” buried in a pile of books. It was a radical book in its early days. Maurice Sendak changed our concept of a children’s book, creatively writing and illustrating monsters in a friendly and imaginative way. He was the first to mine this territory and reposition monsters in our childish minds as warm, fuzzy and memorable. Without him we would not have had Steven Spielberg’s E.T. or Pixar’s Monsters, Inc.

Who doesn’t love a friendly, cuddly monster? And who but Sendak could have redesigned them that way?

Until today, I was unaware that Maurice Sendak was gay, having lived with a partner, psychoanalyst Dr. Eugene Glynn, for 50 years. Maurice never told his parents because he simply wanted to make them happy. Thankfully, he was able to make generations of us happy with his books– they were truly for everyone.

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