Goodbye Maurice Sendak, RIP June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012: A Rememberance and a Tribute

I cried this morning when I heard that Maurice Sendak died. I was at work and my wife texted me the news.  My imidiate response to her was, "Oh, God...no."  I then left my cubical to be alone and wept for about 10 minutes. Afterword, I cleaned myself up and returned to work...but  I never stopped thinking about it.

I can remember my mom reading me every book in the Nutshell Library (Pierre, Chicken Soup with Rice, Alligators All Around, and One Was Johnny). I remember her hamming up Chicken Soup with Rice the Most...especially October, "WHOOPIE once. WHOOOOOOOPIE twice! WHOOOOOOOOOOOPIE chicken soup with rice!"  I read that to my son for bedtime, and I read it like my mom read it to me.  He laughed and looked at me like I was insane... his insane but loving father.

The first "long book" I read to my son was The Griffin and the Minor Canon which was illustrated by Maurice Sendak (written by Frank R. Stockton).  My son was 1, but he didn't budge, his eyes were transfixed on the illustrations.

You Cant Get There From Here by Ogden Nash was a staple of my childhood too.  I constanly pulled it off my father's bookshelf and enjoyed its' Maurice Sendak illustrations and hilarious poetry.

Most people will remember him for Where the Wild Things Are.  I love the illustrations in that book, but it never touched me as much as The Nutshell Library books and In the Night Kitchen did.

To Maurice's family: I am so sorry for your loss.  To fans everywhere: I am so sorry for our loss.  His work will live on in reprint after reprint.  I suggest seeking out more books by him and illustrated by him and putting them in your libraries.

Maurice Sendak was a man who would tell it like it is.  There are some jaw dropping and truly funny interviews with Maurice Sendak out there.  He may not be the Mr. Rogers-type, but I have bucketloads of respect for this man. Steve Carell's 2 part interview with Maurice Sendak a few months back is HIGHLY recommended.

And now... I'll leave you with some pictures of books he illustrated, wrote, and wrote & illustrated from my collection... not all of them, but a good smattering.

What Do You Say, Dear? by Seslye Joslin

What Do You Do, Dear?  by Seslye Joslin

Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present by Charlotte Zolotow

Hector Protector and As I Went Over the Water

Little Bear's Vist by Else Holmelund Minarik

Little Bear's Friend by Else Holmelund Minarik

A Kiss for Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik

In the Night Kitchen

In the Night Kitchen: Coloring Book

Dear Milli by Grimm

The Miami Giant by Arthur Yorinks

Nutcracker  by E.T. Hoffmann 

Pleasant Fieldmouse by Jan Wahl

Higglety, Pigglety, Pop or There Must Be More to Life

The Cunning Little Vixen by Rudolf Tesnohlidek

I'll Be You and You Be Me by Ruth Krauss

The Big Book of Peace by Ann Durell

Swine Lake with James Marshall

Kenny's Window

The Griffin and the Minor Canon by Frank R. Stockton

What Can You do with a Shoe? by Beatrice Schenk de Reginers

I Saw Esau by Iona Opie

A Perfect Friend by Reynolds Price

Hurry Home, Candy by Meindert deJong

You Can't Get There From Here by Ogden Nash

Fly By Night by Randall Jerrell

Shadrach by Meindert deJong

The Juniper Tree and Other Tales From Grimm (Single Volume Edition) - by Grimm

The Wheel on the School by Meidert deJong

Dwarf Long-Nose by Wilhelm Hauff

The Animal Family by Randall Jerrell

The Wonderful Farm by Marcel Ayme

She Loves Me... She Loves Me Not... by Robert Keeshan (AKA Captain Kangaroo)

Chicken Soup With Rice

Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer

No Fighting, No Biting! by Else Holmelund Minarik
Open House for Butterflies by Ruth Krauss

Where the Wild Things Are

The Velveteen Rabbit (Best in Children's Books Volume 35)

Rest in peace, sir.   Good night, sleep tight, don't let the zipperump-a-zoos bite.

Other Maurice Sendak related books missing from the above pictures (most are must haves):
Atomics for the Millions by Dr. Maxwell Leigh
Outside Over There by Grimm
The Moon Jumpers by Janice May Udry
One Was Johnny
Alligators All Around
Pierre
The Singing Hill by Meindert DeJong
Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik
Father Bear Comes Home by Else Holmelund Minarik
Seven Tales by H. C. Anderson by Hans Christian Anderson
Let's Be Enemies  by Janice May Udry
The Sign on Rosie's Door
Seven Little Monsters
AND MANY OTHERS!

Mercer Mayer Versus Maurice Sendak: My Thoughts on the Subject

While growing up in the 1970's, I had my favorite books.  There were eight total; four in one little box, and four in another little box.  One set of books had words, and the other didn’t.  These box sets were The Nutshell Library by Maurice Sendak (1962, containing: Alligators all Around, One was Johnny, Chicken Soup with Rice, and Pierre: A Cautionary Tale in Five Chapters and a Prologue) and Four Frogs in a Box by Mercer Mayer (1976, containing: A Boy, a Dog and a Frog; Frog Where are You; A Boy, a Dog, a Frog and a Friend; and Frog on His Own).  Like many of my “precious” childhood favorites, my mother has my Nutshell Library set of books at her house.

Now, I’ve heard that others have had some confusion over these two illustrators.  Many claiming that Mercer Mayer is overly influenced by Maurice Sendak.  I even heard people give credit to Mercer Mayer for writing some of Maurice Sendak's works (and vice versa)!

I had similar thoughts when I was very young because The Nutshell Library and Four Frogs in a Box were both small boxes of four books... but that was about it.

Now to examine these similarities:

Firstly, Maurice Sendak (born in 1928) started having his illustrations published in 1947.  Mercer Mayer (born in 1943) first had his illustrations published in 1967. That is a 20 year difference (and they are close to that in their age difference).  So, it is very possible that Mercer Mayer was very aware of Maurice Sendak's work.  Sendak's work was popular, and it is even possible that a publisher told Mercer Mayer to do something “similar” in order to be published.

Secondly, they do both have a couple of “boy”-style characters that appear in a lot of their works.   They both have dark-haired boys that they’ve used for their characters. For Maurice Sendak, this is probably his “Pierre” archetype (which may have started in some of his early illustrations for Ruth Krauss books like A Hole is to Dig).   Mercer Mayer’s “boy”-character probably started with the unnamed boy in A Boy, a Dog and a Frog book and developed into many other similar looking/feeling boys in Terrible Troll, There's a Nightmare in My Closet, I am a Hunter, A Special Trick, Bubble Bubble, You’re the Scaredy Cat, etc (and also with slightly different color hair or glasses in If I Had…, Mine, A Silly Story, and others)… plus some of his illustrations for other authors like in The Great Brain series by John D. Fitzgerald, Outside My Window (Liesel Moak Skorpen), Margaret’s Birthday (Jan Wahl), Grandmother Told Me (Jan Wahl),  Boy Was I Mad (Kathryn Hitte), The Boy Who Made a Million (Sidney Offit), etc…   BUT Maurice Sendak and Mercer Mayer are both men, and they were dark-haired boys once.  It only makes sense for them to take influences from their own lives. 

One specific comparison that I’ve heard has been Mercer Mayer’s There’s a Nightmare in My Closet versus Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are.   One is about a boy dealing with his fears and getting over it (Nightmare).  The other is about a boy who goes to a fantasy land because he’s mad at his mother but comes home eventually (Wild Things).  The Wild Things characters aren’t an object of fear in Maurice Sendak’s book; they are what the boy wants to be.  The Nightmare character in Mercer Mayer’s book is an object of fear that the boy deals with and overcomes.   Yes, they both have (very different looking) monsters, but that is about it.  To be honest, I really don't get this comparison.

If you actually want to compare two books, you’d have to look at Maurice Sendak’s Very Far Away (1957) and Boy, Was I Mad! (1969, written by Kathryn Hitte and illustrated by Mercer Mayer).  

Both feature boys in very different looking cowboy hats and boots running away; one is a dark-haired boy who is “mad” because he got in trouble and had to sit quietly in the corner (Boy, Was I Mad!), and the other is a light-haired boy who is “upset” because of a new sibling and not being listened to (Very Far Away).  The comparisons end there.  The two boy’s “adventures” while running away are very different.  Sendak’s boy meets a bunch of talking animals that are also running away.  Hitte/Mayer’s boy meets real-life characters.  It is only the running away cowboy-dressed boys that are similar (and the Mercer Mayer design was probably Kathryn Hitte’s idea).  But, boys dressed as cowboys and boys running away are common themes and who knows if anyone was influenced by anyone else.  Also, Maurice Sendak tends to use a minimalist approach for his drawings in Very Far Away, and Mercer Mayer's are very detailed and rich in Boy, Was I Mad!.  So, maybe there really isn't anything here to compare.


Thirdly, maybe people just get confused because their first names start with "M."  Could it be that simple? Maybe.  Maurice Mayer and Mercer Sendak... oops... I mean Mayer Sendak and Mercer Maurice... oops... Yeah, maybe....

So, my conclusion is this. Mercer Mayer may have been slightly "influenced" by Maurice Sendak. I know he respects Maurice Sendak from comments of his that I've read. I am also sure that people come up to Mercer Mayer all the time and tell how much they love (insert Maurice Sendak title here... probably Where the Wild Things Are). Who knows, maybe people come up to Maurice Sendak and tell him how much they love Little Critter?

There are plenty of "similar" books out there by other authors and illustrators, and I may break some out and share them on here in the future.  In the meantime, "Goodnight, sleep tight, don't let the Zipperump-a-zoos bite!"

Welcome to my Blog, "Book 'em Bob!"

Welcome to my Blog, "Book 'em Bob!" I am planning on writing mostly about books, and reviews for books on this site including children's picture books (with authors like Mercer Mayer, Maurice Sendak, Steven Kellogg, James Marshall, James Stevenson, David McPhail and many more). I will dabble in other publication related things too.

About me: I am a father of two wonderful children. A boy and a girl, and I read to them constantly. We have our favorites, and somehow, over the years, we have collected over 1,000 children's books in our library including over 200 by Mercer Mayer alone! You can take a wild guess on who a few of these posts are going to be about.