Where The Wild Things Are author Maurice Sendak dies after a stroke at 83

Maurice Sendak, the children's book author and illustrator who saw the sometimes-dark side of childhood in books such as Where the Wild Things Are, died early on Tuesday. He was 83.

Longtime friend and caretaker Lynn Caponera said she was with him when Sendak died at a hospital in Danbury, Connecticut. She said he had a stroke on Friday.

Where the Wild Things Are earned Sendak a prestigious Caldecott Medal for the best children's book of 1964 and became a hit movie in 2009.

Passing: Maurice Sendak, author of the popular children's book Where the Wild Things Are, has died aged 83

Passing: Maurice Sendak, author of the popular children's book Where the Wild Things Are, has died aged 83

President Bill Clinton awarded Sendak a National Medal of the Arts in 1996 for his vast portfolio of work.

Sendak didn't limit his career to a safe and successful formula of conventional children's books, though it was the pictures he did for wholesome works such as Ruth Krauss' A Hole Is To Dig and Else Holmelund Minarik's Little Bear that launched his career.

Where the Wild Things Are, about a boy named Max who goes on a journey - sometimes a rampage - through his own imagination after he is sent to bed without supper, was quite controversial when it was published, and his quirky and borderline scary illustrations for E.T.A. Hoffmann's Nutcracker did not have the sugar coating featured in other versions.

Sendak also created costumes for ballets and staged operas, including the Czech opera Brundibar, which he also put on paper with collaborator Pulitzer-winning playwright Tony Kushner in 2003.

Popular: Sendak wrote and illustrated Where The Wild Things Are about a disobedient boy who is sent to bed without any dinner - and then creates a mysterious world in his bedroom

Popular: Sendak wrote and illustrated Where The Wild Things Are about a disobedient boy who is sent to bed without any dinner - and then creates a mysterious world in his bedroom

He designed the Pacific Northwest Ballet's Nutcracker production that later became a movie shown on television, and he served as producer of various animated TV series based on his illustrations, including Seven Little Monsters, George and Martha and Little Bear.

But despite his varied resume, Sendak accepted - and embraced - the label 'kiddie-book author'.

'I write books as an old man, but in this country you have to be categorized, and I guess a little boy swimming in the nude in a bowl of milk (as in In the Night Kitchen) can't be called an adult book,' he told The Associated Press in 2003.

'So I write books that seem more suitable for children, and that's OK with me. They are a better audience and tougher critics. Kids tell you what they think, not what they think they should think.'

During that 2003 interview, Sendak also said he felt as if he were part of a dying breed of illustrators who approached their work as craftsmen.

At work and play: Sendak is pictured in 1985 with one of the characters from his book Where the Wild Things Are. The costumes were used for the operatic adaptation of his book in St. Paul, Minnesota

At work and play: Sendak is pictured in 1985 with one of the characters from his book Where the Wild Things Are. The costumes were used for the operatic adaptation of his book in St. Paul, Minnesota

Studio: Sendak, who also designed theatrical sets, is pictured in East Sussex, England in 1987, with some of his creations for the Glyndebourne Festival Opera's production of L'Heure Espagnole

Studio: Sendak, who also designed theatrical sets, is pictured in East Sussex, England in 1987, with some of his creations for the Glyndebourne Festival Opera's production of L'Heure Espagnole

Creative: In 1987 in Glyndebourne, East Sussex, Maurice Sendak paints a portrait of composer Maurice Ravel

Creative: In 1987 in Glyndebourne, East Sussex, Maurice Sendak paints a portrait of composer Maurice Ravel

'I feel like a dinosaur. There are a few of us left. (We) worked so hard in the `50s and `60s but some have died and computers pushed others out.'


'Children are a better audience and tougher critics. Kids tell you what they think, not what they think they should think'

Maurice Sendak, 2003

Sendak, who carried out his work in a studio at the Ridgefield, Conn., home he moved into in the early 1960s, never embraced high-tech toys.

He did, however, have a collection of Mickey Mouse and other Walt Disney toys displayed throughout the house.

When director Spike Jonez made the movie version of Where the Wild Things Are, Sendak said he urged the director to remember his view that childhood isn't all sweetness and light.

And he was happy with the result. 'In plain terms, a child is a complicated creature who can drive you crazy,' Sendak told the AP in 2009.

Adored: Sendak reads to a boy at the Rosenbach Library and Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1985. His often dark books and illustrations sparked a new genre of children's literature

Adored: Sendak reads to a boy at the Rosenbach Library and Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1985. His often dark books and illustrations sparked a new genre of children's literature

October 1988 file photo, author Maurice Sendak, creator of the best-selling children's book "Where the Wild Things Are," checks proofs of art for a major advertising campaign in his Ridgefield, Conn., home
Sendak in his studio in 2003

Through the years: Sendak, who was born in Brooklyn, New York, carried out all his work in a studio in the Ridgefield, Connecticut home he moved into in the 60s. He is seen in 1988 (left) and in 2003 (right)

Praised: Sendak in January 11, 2002 before the opening of a multimedia exhibition entitled Maurice Sendak In His Own Words and Pictures at the Childrens Museum of Manhattan in New York City

Praised: Sendak in January 11, 2002 before the opening of a multimedia exhibition entitled Maurice Sendak In His Own Words and Pictures at the Childrens Museum of Manhattan in New York City

'There's a cruelty to childhood, there's an anger. And I did not want to reduce Max to the trite image of the good little boy that you find in too many books.'

Sendak's own life was clouded by the shadow of the Holocaust. He had said that the events of World War II were the root of his raw and honest artistic style.

Born in 1928 and raised in Brooklyn, Sendak said he remembered the tears shed by his Jewish-Polish immigrant parents as they'd get news of atrocities and the deaths of relatives and friends.

'My childhood was about thinking about the kids over there (in Europe). My burden is living for those who didn't,' he told the AP.

Sendak, his sister Natalie, and late brother Jack, were the last of the family on his father's side since his other relatives didn't move to the United States before the war. The only family member Sendak really knew on his mother's side was his grandmother.

Family favourite: Sendak is pictured with director Spike Jonze and actor Max Records at the premiere of the film version of Where The Wild Things Are at Alice Tully Hall in October 2009 in New York
Family favourite: Sendak is pictured with director Spike Jonze and actor Max Records at the premiere of the film version of Where The Wild Things Are at Alice Tully Hall in October 2009 in New York

Family favourite: Sendak is pictured with director Spike Jonze (left) and actor Max Records (left and right) at the film premiere of Where The Wild Things Are at Alice Tully Hall in October 2009 in New York 

At ease: Sendak in 2004 with his dog Herman, who is named after author Herman Melville, one of Sendak's idols

At ease: Sendak in 2004 with his dog Herman, named after author Herman Melville, one of Sendak's idols

Sendak told the New York Times in 2008 that he was gay and had lived with his partner, psychoanalyst Eugene Glynn, for 50 years before his death in 2007.

He never told his parents: 'All I wanted was to be straight so my parents could be happy. They never, never, never knew.'

Sendak didn't go to college and worked a string of odd jobs until he went to work at the famous toy store FAO Schwarz as a window dresser in 1948.

But it was his childhood dream to be an illustrator and his break came in 1951 when he was commissioned to do the art for Wonderful Farm by Marcel Ayme. By 1957 he was writing his own books.

Sendak received the international Hans Christian Andersen medal for illustration in 1970. In 1983 he won the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award from the American Library Association.

Loved: Sendak (in September 2011) suffered a stroke on Friday and died in a Connecticut hospital on Tuesday

Loved: Sendak (in September 2011) suffered a stroke on Friday and died in a Connecticut hospital on Tuesday

But it was Brundibar, a folk tale about two children who need to earn enough money to buy milk for their sick mother that Sendak completed when he was 75, that he was most proud of.

'This is the closest thing to a perfect child I've ever had.'

Sendak stayed away from the book-signing bandwagon that many other authors use for publicity; he said he couldn't stand the thought of parents dragging children to wait on line for hours to see a little old man in thick glasses.

'Kids don't know about best sellers,' he said. 'They go for what they enjoy. They aren't star chasers and they don't suck up. It's why I like them.'


Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/05/08/3226100/baby-dies-after-rock-hill-grandfather.html#storylink=cpy

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