Its main character is the little boy Max, who one night decides to dress up as a wolf and play pranks, which will make his mother angry, call him a “monster” and send him to bed without dinner. That same night, a dense forest grows in Max’s room, which gradually becomes the whole world. And Max travels through this world until he reaches the “Land of Monsters”. Monsters are wild and scary, but he tames them with cunning. And they recognize him as their equal and make him their king. And they all play pranks together until Max sends them to bed hungry. And then he dreams of being somewhere, “where he will be loved like no one else.” And he returns to his room, where a hot plate of supper awaits him.

Max’s journey is like a child’s wandering around the world, from the safety of home to a cacophony of emotions he can’t handle, and from there to the insecurity of a conflict with a parent that opens the door to an unknown and terrifying world. which may seem exciting, but even there, a child always needs someone who loves him like no other. Sendak does not romanticize childhood, the children in his books are difficult, grumpy, brave, stubborn, determined to succeed in the face of difficulties. And Max is one of them, “the most authentic and therefore my most favorite creation,” as he called it when the book won the Caldecott Award, the American Library Association’s highest annual award for the best children’s book.

He has stated many times in interviews that it appears that society is conspiring to deprive children of their most important characteristic, the ability to live each experience with intensity, immediacy and creativity. He himself bore a lot of pain from his childhood, marked by the death of many members of his Jewish family – his parents immigrated to the United States from Poland before the First World War. He was greatly influenced by his father, who was a keen storyteller of incredible stories that he made up himself and could tell them to his children – Sendak had two siblings, Jack and Natalie – for many evenings.

Of a thousand waves

Monsterland was met with disbelief, disgust, and anger by some in its early years of release. It took almost two years before parents and librarians realized that children found the book extremely charming and interesting. “A little boy sent me a cute postcard with a little drawing,” Sendak recalled during an interview. “I really liked it. I answer all the letters that I receive from children, sometimes rather hastily, but I took my time. I sent him a postcard on which I drew a monster. I wrote to him:” Dear Jim, I really liked your postcard.” Soon I received a letter from the boy’s mother, in which she wrote: “Jim loved your card so much that he ate it!” For me, it was one of the biggest compliments I’ve ever received. He didn’t care that it was an original drawing by Maurice Sendak. Saw it, liked it, ate it.”

After the public accepted the book, it was followed by critics who began to deify both the work and its author. Sendak wrote and illustrated nine books and illustrated over 150, including two books by his brother Jack. Monsterland has been listed as one of the best children’s books of all time, and its author is considered one of the most important children’s book illustrators of the 20th century.