PRI: Public Radio International

Mo Willems remembers author Maurice Sendak

Sun, 13 May 2012 11:15:00 -0500

Maurice Sendak inspired a generation of authors with his picture books, serious enough to reinvent the medium but inviting enough to be favorites for millions of children. Mo Willems, a children's author today, says he was inspired by Sendak's work and his trailblazing.

Martha Heineman Pieper, Ph.D.

Sun, 13 May 2012 22:51:49 -0500

When Maurice Sendak wrote Where the Wild Things Are, it was much more acceptable to send children to bed without dinner for melting down. Now, however, we realize that we should not punish children for behaving like children. I am a child psychotherapist who has written a children's book about bad dreams which takes a more up to date approach. In Mommy, Daddy, I Had a Bad Dream! (www.mommydaddyihadabaddream) Joey, a bouncy, happy, kangaroo has a series of bad dreams which his parents lovingly help him understand.

GZ

Tue, 15 May 2012 10:15:49 -0500

@Pieper

Where the Wild Things Are is not a parenting manual and Sendak never suggested that children should be punished for any reason. His work was groundbreaking and remains vital because he tells the truth - that young children experience such things as pain, confusion, and anger. Furthermore, he regarded his books as art rather than mere didactic or therapeutic material. Such works need not depict 'ideal' circumstances (viz. two loving parents who explain the bad dreams) or have a specific moral in order to have worth.

Even if Sendak's work did not help children cope or learn it would still yield experiences of beauty and mystery - both of which children are fully capable. Deny this capacity and we curse our youth with tedious, pandering pablum.

By the way, spraying your name on a master's grave to sell books is inappropriate and in very poor taste.