Be Still

Or

Off to Castle Yonder

Or

Where the Dead Things Are

Maurice Sendak, who became a fixture of kiddie lit by treating children as the selfish, irrational sociopaths they really are, and because he couldn’t draw horses, has died of complications of a stroke at the age of 83. Already a renowned author and illustrator, Sendak pitched a book called Where the Wild Horses Are, which his editor loved. Sendak couldn’t draw horses, but he could draw things, especially with the obnoxious relatives from the Sunday gatherings of his youth as models, and the book became one of the top sellers of all time. The book probably would have sold even more if it wasn’t banned by small-minded librarians who thought the book would be too frightening for young’uns coddled by the sweetness and innocence of most kids’ books. Other classics included Higglety Pigglety Pop! Or There Must Be More to Life, the nonsensical tale of a terrier who decides there must be more to life than having everything, In the Night Kitchen, about the nocturnal adventures of Mickey, a pants-less child who barely escapes being baked into a cake, and Outside Over There, the tale of a girl rescuing her baby sister from the goblins who kidnapped her. Sendak was a member of the National Board of Advisors of the Children’s Television Workshop during the development stages of Sesame Street, and later collaborated with Jim Henson to produce an animated sequence of his story Bumble Ardy.