Beloved author illustrator MAURICE SENDAK who genius emblazoned “WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE” has passed after a lengthy illness at age 83.
Sendak, died early morning in Danbury, Conn. , four days after suffering a stroke.
He revolutionized children's books and how that literature revealed the truth about children.
His kids misbehaved, didn't regret it and in their dreams and nightmares fled to the most unimaginable places.
Despite his adoration from fans and successful in other endeavors such as designing opera, Sendak preferred solitary existence and his curmudgeonly persona became as much of a legend as the artist himself.
Yet when teaching an illustration class at Parsons School of Design during the 1970s he encouraged the imaginative despite a lack of technical expertise and damned the lazy and dull.
“If Maurice liked your work, you were championed,” a former student told The ENQUIRER.
But despite his varied resume — books, film, TV, opera and ballet — Sendak embraced being a "kiddie-book author."
"I write books as an old man, but in this country you have to be categorized, and I guess a little boy swimming in the nude in a bowl of milk (as in In the Night Kitchen) can't be called an adult book," he told AP in 2003.
"So I write books that seem more suitable for children, and that's OK with me. They are a better audience and tougher critics. Kids tell you what they think, not what they think they should think."
Maurcice shyed away from the limelight and stayed away from the book-signing PR bandwagon. He said he couldn't stand the thought of parents dragging children to wait on line for hours to see a little old man in thick glasses.
"Kids don't know about best sellers," Sendak divulged
"They go for what they enjoy. They aren't star chasers and they don't suck up. It's why I like them."
Adios, amigo. The wild rumpus is not the same without you…
