I felt wild with frustration after reading this! (Where The Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak)

Member Name: Claribella

Product:	Where The Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak
Date:	01/07/09 (86 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Encourages imagination

Disadvantages: Read review

'Where the wild things are' is one of those books that I've seen around and I know that it has a good reputation but have never got around to reading it until recently.

The book is written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak and it was first published all the way back in 1963.

The book tells the story of Max who is sent to his room without any tea because he is being naughty. Whilst sitting in his room it turns into a forest and he ends up taking a boat to see some scary monsters who he soon becomes ruler of.

This book is a classic example of how a child can turn something extremely boring into the adventure of a life time. This is the one aspect of the book that I absolutely love because I am probably not the only person that feels that a lot of children these days seem to have no imagination at all.

The text in the book is written in quite a small font but it's few and far between which again encourages the reader to imagine. Some of the pages have no text at all so the reader at really get the imagination going and make up exactly what they think is happening!

I found the illustrations interesting in this book and I have to say that I think you will either love them or hate them. Each drawing is made up of very tiny details and the colours that are used are very bland and boring. I have to say that I didn't like them at all and didn't find them very engaging although having said that, some of the 'wild things' had quite compelling faces to the point where I did spend a few moments studying them.

This book was very good at inspiring good conversation and imagination which I am all for in this day and age where none seems to exist but, it was missing the vibrance and entertainment that some children's books can give these days. I felt very frustrated after reading it and I feel that Noah felt that too as he hasn't asked for it again.

When reading this book it is painfully clear that it is of another era which I find quite surprising because most 'classic' childrens books that seem to be timeless, show no signs of when they were written. The pictures are dated and uninspiring and even the fact that it is based around the imagination shows that it isn't of today.

Although I didn't enjoy this book, I would recommend it so you can form you own viewpoint on it and see if you agree with what I am saying.

Summary: I didn't like it