ABSTRACT
When it was first published in the fall of 1963, Where the Wild Things Are was the subject of vehement attacks and criticisms from school librarians, professors and psychologists who accused Maurice Sendak of having written a disturbing book containing images and text unsuitable for young children. One critic cautioned, 'it is not a book to be left where a sensitive child may come upon it at twilight'. Since then it has gone on to sell millions of copies all around the world, has inspired numerous children stories on the theme 'taming the wilderness within' and is now widely recognised as one of the classics of modern children's literature. Sendak's celebrated masterpiece recounts the adventures of Max, a securely attached and mischievous six-year-old boy with a healthy play drive. The book opens with our small hero dressed in wolf pyjamas making 'mischief of one kind and another'.
