Maurice Sendak....1929 -2012

Maurice Sendak, the children’s author and illustrator best known for the 1963 classic “Where the Wild Things Are,” died Tuesday in Danbury, Conn., reportedly of complications from a stroke. He was 83.

The Brooklyn-born author, the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland, lost many family members in the Holocaust and spent time in bed with health problems as a child. After seeing the Disney movie “Fantasia” at the age of 12, an experience that influenced his work throughout his career, he decided to become an illustrator.

 It's been a while since I last blogged but after learning this morning of the very recent death of one of my all time favorite and beloved author & illustrator, Maurice Sendak... I wanted to blog.  If you've never picked up the book, "Where the Wild Things Are".  You haven't experienced your childhood to it's fullest.  You've never imagined incredible worlds waiting for you and all you'd have to do is close your eyes.  You've never tromped thru wild forests, sailed mighty oceans and you've never picked up another book without experiencing your own magical imagery created just by you.   Maurice Sendak, opened my eyes as a child.  First with his tale of that little boy, that little "Wild Thing" and the importance of home.  Second, his illustrations are magical, whimsical, and inspirational. He, along with a few other artist created the desire to draw.  And not as an "artist", but as a child wishing to illustrate her little stories, to bring the images OUT of her head and onto paper. 

Maurice, you may be gone from this world, but your passion, creativity and inspiration will continue to live on thru your books and illustrations.  You'll continue to take children on adventures and cause them to create their own, under tents of blankets, flashlights and books.  Crayons, paper towel tubes and paper.  You'll continue to inspire creativity in young adults and even adults young at heart.  Thank you for my childhood memories and creating a book I enjoyed and still enjoy sharing with my children and other children.  You are timeless.  You are forever.

Now let YOUR wild rumpus begin!!  And enjoy YOUR adventure...for it's just begun.