Chil­dren’s

Mau­rice Sendak

Char­lotte Guillain
  • Review
By – August 7, 2012

What a won­der­ful idea: a biog­ra­phy of a beloved children’s author and illus­tra­tor tai­lored to the new­ly inde­pen­dent read­er. The font is sharp and well-sized with an unclut­tered back­ground. The pho­tographs and Sendak illus­tra­tions sup­port the text. The author has includ­ed a table of con­tents, time­line, glos­sary, bib­li­og­ra­phy (books and web­sites), and index.

Sendak was the youngest child of poor Pol­ish Jew­ish par­ents who had arrived in New York sev­er­al years before World War II. The Holo­caust and the exter­mi­na­tion of their extend­ed fam­i­ly in Europe was a major fac­tor in their lives. Mau­rice was a sick­ly child and a vora­cious read­er who spent many long days in bed. His was not an easy or hap­py childhood. 

See­ing the Walt Dis­ney film Fan­ta­sia at the age of twelve influ­enced Sendak to become an illus­tra­tor and, toward that goal, he went to art school at night. One of his ear­li­est jobs was as a win­dow dress­er for the famous New York City toy store, FAO Schwartz. He was the illus­tra­tor for Isaac Bashe­vis Singer’s Zlatah the Goat, as well as oth­er famous children’s literature.

Sendak’s father told his chil­dren Bible sto­ries and was a very strong influ­ence in his young life, as were many dis­parate writ­ers and artists. His work reflects the tra­di­tion­al val­ues of his Jew­ish her­itage: the impor­tance of fam­i­ly, friends, jus­tice, and respon­si­bil­i­ty to oth­ers, as well as the impor­tance of hope.

Sendak col­lab­o­rat­ed with Tony Kush­n­er on the book Brundibar, based on a Czech opera per­formed by the chil­dren of the Terezin con­cen­tra­tion camp. Inter­est­ing­ly, the author makes no ref­er­ence to this impor­tant work. 

Sendak’s sto­ries were among the first exam­ples of juve­nile lit­er­a­ture to explore the dark­er emo­tions of child­hood: fear, anger, and pain. His illus­tra­tions were high­ly imag­i­na­tive and often scary. 

This biog­ra­phy is high­ly rec­om­mend­ed for chil­dren aged 6 to 8. It would be a great gift, espe­cial­ly if paired with a book men­tioned in the bib­li­og­ra­phy — a win­ning duo. 

Nao­mi Kramer is a retired read­ing con­sul­tant teacher who devel­oped cur­ricu­lum for using lit­er­a­ture to edu­cate chil­dren and adults in the his­to­ry of the Holo­caust. She is a docent and edu­ca­tor at the Holo­caust Memo­r­i­al and Tol­er­ance Edu­ca­tion Cen­ter of Nas­sau County.

Discussion Questions