|
|
Maurice Sendak (1928 - ) author and illustrator
Maurice Sendak was born in New York and because he was a sick child he had to spent a lot of time in bed until he was six years old.
He read a lot while he was ill and one of his favourite books was Pinocchio. He also loved Mickey Mouse and lots of other comics.
When he went to school, Maurice didn't like it much, but the teachers encouraged him with his drawing and he drew a comic strip for his high school magazine.
After he left school he worked as a window dresser at a toy store in New York and in his spare time he drew and painted. He also enjoyed browsing at illustrations in childrens' books in the book department of the toy store.
The person in charge of the book store saw how interested Maurice was in illustrations and introduced him to a publisher of books for kids. The year was 1949. The publisher looked at some of Sendak's sketches and asked him to illustrate a book. It was called 'The Wonderful Farm' and it was published in 1951.
Maurice Sendak went on to illustrate many more books and between 1951 and 1962 he illustrated more than 40 books.
The first book for which he wrote the text and did the illustrations was called 'Kenny's Window' and was about a boy's dream. It was published in 1956.
His most famous book, 'Where the Wild Things Are' was published in 1963. At first many people thought that this was not a good book for children because it showed strange wild animals with big claws and staring eyes. They thought that the illustrations would frighten children. It did frighten some, but children loved the book and millions of copies were sold in countries around the world. 'Where the Wild Things Are' is regarded as one of the best picture story books of the 20 century
Acknowledge this
source in your bibliography like this:
Maurice
Sendak (2000).
[Online], Available: www.kidcyber.com.au
Go here to read more about Maurice Sendak
Updated 12 October 2000