I grew up with this book.  Who didn’t grow up with this book?  Seriously?  I naturally assume that EVERY single household has a copy (or two) of it.  That’s how huge in my head it is.  I remember this book somehow, magically, always within arms reach.  It’s one of the very first picture books that my husband and I purchased after we got married because it felt unnatural to set up our house without this book in it.

Who didn’t want to be Max?  What a lucky little boy.  Sent to bed without dinner.  But who cares?  Who needs dinner when a forest starts to grow in your room and an ocean tumbles by with a private boat to sail to where the wild things are.  And although the wild things roar their terrible roars and gnash their terrible teeth and roll their terrible eyes and show their terrible claws, it doesn’t matter because you easily tame them and become their king.  And then  you have a wild rumpus and swing from the trees and have a grand old time.  And the best part, when you sail back home you have your supper waiting for you anyways!  A nice warm supper after a grand adventure.  Yes.  Who doesn’t want to be Max?

A book that I will make sure my boys grow up just as I did.

Who’s excited for the movie?!  I am.  Maurice Sendak has worked closely in making sure the movie matched his vision and from what I understand is ecstatic with how it turned out.  The movie will be released on October 16th of this  year.  Two more weeks!  This is one that’s worth getting a babysitter for  – that’s how I determine how all movies are lately – are they worth the cost of a babysitter and the price of a ticket?

Where the Wild Things Are movie trailer:

So what are your thoughts about Where the Wild Things Are?

I read Where the Wild Things Are as part of  Banned Books Week. The book has been challenged because of its witchcraft and supernatural elements.  Witchcraft?  Because he tamed them?  I don’t get it.

Links of interest:  Maurice Sendak Wikipedia entry, more book blogger reviews, and the Terrible Yellow Eyes website which is a fantastic art site!
Genre: Picture Book
Publisher:  HarperCollins.  November, 1988.  (Originally published 1968).
Paperback, 48 pages. ISBN:  0064431789
Where the Wild Things Are is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

It has been years since I’ve read a Roald Dahl book, one of the most beloved children’s authors of all time, so I was looking forward to reading James and the Giant Peach.  James is sent to live with his two horrible aunts after his parents die a quick but very horrible death (by a rhinoceros no less!).  Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge were “selfish and lazy and cruel” and beat James for no reason at all.  When he wasn’t working, he had no friends, no toys, and wasn’t allowed to leave the house on top of a little hill where he could see the ocean and friends that he longed for.

But that all changes when a magical little old man gives James a bag of magical crystals  that are sure to change his life forever if only he can eat them before his Aunts catch him.   But instead he accidently drops them at the roots of on an old peach tree that never bears fruit.  A peach begins to grow, grow and grow and there is no sign of stopping!

When it grows to the size of the house, the adventure really begins when James discovers that he can crawl inside where he meets a bunch of new friends – who just happen to be oversized insects – including a spider, ladybug, grasshoper, and earthworm.  James and his new friends begin to roll away and are sent on an adventure that takes them into the ocean, through the sky and across the ocean to New York City!

Overall, I enjoyed this book, it was fun full of irreverant humour.  I did get bored in the middle while the seagulls were flying across the ocean and they came into mishaps with the Cloud-Men.  I always loved Lane Smith, the illustrator of the version I have, but I can’t decide about these illustrations.  Some of them are really nice and some of them are a miss.  But regardless, I still love him.

I haven’t seen the movie for James and the Giant Peach but thought it would be worth checking out.  The movie trailer:

I read James and the Giant Peach during Banned Books Week.  This book has been challenged because it’s too magical, advocates communism (what?!?), and because James disobeys his Aunts, despite the fact that they are abusive, as well as a myriad of other reasons.  Relax people!  Do you really think a story of a magical, huge peach is going to harm our kids?  I think the kiddos are smart enough to figure out that this one is just a story!

Do you read Roald Dahl?  I have most of his books, which one should be next?

Roald Dahl website.

Edited to add:  The whole time I was reading this book I kept reminding myself to share my peach pudding recipe, and what would you know, I published it without the recipe!  If you have fresh peaches, this recipe is TO DIE FOR!  I’ve made it three times within the last month as peaches are on right now.  I’m seriously salivating!

Grandma’s Peach Pudding

Mix and boil milk, sugar, and salt together.  Combine separately cornstarch with a little milk and make a thin thickening.  When milk mixture boils pour in thickening.  Pour a little of this into the beaten eggs and mix up.  Add the egg mixture back into main mixture.  Add vanilla and butter.  Bring to a boil while stirring until mixture has reached pudding like consistency. Chill mixture.  Roll out graham crackers.  In a bowl layer graham crackers, pudding, fruit, graham crackers, pudding, fruit, and crackers.  Let stand 2 or 3 hours.  Serve with real whipped cream.  I actually don’t use the stove for this and do everything in the microwave.  With the exception of peeling and cutting peaches, it only takes about 15-20 minutes.

The Little Prince is about the author reminiscing over the time when his plane was stuck in the Sahara Desert. While trying to fix it he meets the little prince who simply won’t leave him alone. But yet no matter how annoying the little prince is, the author can’t help having a soft spot in his heart for him. The little prince lives alone on a tiny planet where he owns three volcanoes, and a flower. It’s this flower that the little prince loves but he can’t handle her pride and vanity and he decides to abandon her (how’s that for loyalty!). He travels throughout the galaxy, meeting various inhabitants of other planets and finally makes his way to Earth where he meets a snake, a fox, more flowers, and our narrator. Each one of his meetings leaves the little prince with more to ponder and lessons learned.

A few quotes from The Little Prince:

‘The fact is that I did not know how to understand anything! I ought to have judged by deeds and not by words.’

‘To me [said the fox], you are still nothing more that a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world . . .’

‘And now here is my secret’ [said the fox], ‘a very simply secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.’

‘What is essential is invisible to the eye,’ the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.

‘It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.’

‘It is the time I have wasted for my rose – ‘ said the little prince, so that he would be sure to remember.

‘Men have forgotten this truth,’ said the fox. ‘But you must not forget it. you become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. you are responsible for your rose . . . ‘

‘I am responsible for my rose,’ the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.’

So I couldn’t help but read the back cover of my copy of The Little Prince which states, “There are few stories that in some way, in some degree, change the world forever for their readers. This is one.” Umm . . . sorry, not today. Maybe it was just a bad time to read this one, but it just didn’t do anything for me. I don’t think my world will be changed forever even in the slightest.

Is this blasphemy? Have you read it? What do you think?