The Wild Things Are at SJCPL!

I recently flipped through the children’s book Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak as a refresher for the eagerly-anticipated movie adaptation. Surprisingly, the book is only 338 words, but, even so, the story effectively captures the strong emotions that children experience and the fantasy world that helps them deal with those emotions. Despite initial controversy over whether the book would scare young children, the book was awarded the Caldecott Medal in 1964 and remains hugely popular.

Contributing to the book’s popularity are the imaginatively depicted Wild Things, who are quite cute despite their “terrible” claws and teeth. A fun fact about the characters is that they  would have been horses in a tale originally called “Where the Wild Horses Are,” but Sendak had trouble drawing the horses and instead began with images of his Brooklyn relatives to develop his concept of the Wild Things. I’m not so sure wild horses would have worked as well as wild things.

We have several copies of Where the Wild Things Are at SJCPL, but for this month, not only can you borrow the book but you can also meet a Wild Thing at one of our Storytimes and at the Open Book Family Fest. Wild Thing will make an appearance at the following Storytimes:

10:00 a.m. & 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 22, at the Main Library Storytime Room

10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, September 23, at the Centre Township Branch

6:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 24, at the LaSalle Branch

10:30 a.m. on Friday, September 25, at the North Liberty Branch

Wild Thing and other favorite storybook characters will also be making an appearance at the Main Library during the 8th Annual Open Book Family Fest on Saturday, September 26, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

So don’t miss these unique opportunities to meet a favorite storybook character!

(And just for fun, check out this youtube video of President Obama reading Where the Wild Things Are at a White House Easter event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bo_YB9ODqrw)