Obit: Maurice Sendak (1928-2012)

Subject: Obit: Maurice Sendak (1928-2012)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 08 May 12 - 11:42 AM

A friend of mind had it right on Facebook this morning: "Oh Mr. Sendak, please don't go. We'll eat you up. We love you so!"

Maurice Sendak, Author of Splendid Nightmares, Dies at 83 (NY Times)

His recent appearance with Stephen Colbert was excellent.

I started with the Nutshell Library -- a small format boxed set, with "Chicken Soup with Rice", "Alligators Everywhere", "One Was Johnny", and "Pierre".

He leaves a wonderful legacy.

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: Obit: Maurice Sendak (1928-2012)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 08 May 12 - 11:54 AM

Links to other good interviews are at the NY Times Arts Beat blog.

~ Becky in Long Beach, actually

Subject: RE: Obit: Maurice Sendak (1928-2012)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 08 May 12 - 12:08 PM

His last print interview at the Guardian is quite amazing.

~ Becky in Long Beach

Subject: RE: Obit: Maurice Sendak (1928-2012)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 08 May 12 - 12:18 PM

2011 interview with Terry Gross, on NPR Fresh Air (20 mins).

~ Becky in Long Beach

Subject: RE: Obit: Maurice Sendak (1928-2012)
From: Dan Schatz
Date: 08 May 12 - 01:22 PM

Just to prove this can belong above the line, Maurice Sendak did the illustrations for our own Jean Ritchie's book, Singing Family of the Cumberlands. (Here's a picture of Balis Ritchie, Jean's father.)

We'll miss him. We need more children's authors and artists like Sendak, who resist the urge to be cutesy.

Dan

Subject: RE: Obit: Maurice Sendak (1928-2012)
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 May 12 - 01:24 PM

NEW YORK (AP) -- Maurice Sendak didn't think of himself as a children's author, but as an author who told the truth about childhood.

"I like interesting people and kids are really interesting people," he explained to The Associated Press last fall. "And if you didn't paint them in little blue, pink and yellow, it's even more interesting."

Sendak, who died early Tuesday in Danbury, Conn., at age 83, four days after suffering a stroke, revolutionized children's books and how we think about childhood simply by leaving in what so many writers before had excluded. Dick and Jane were no match for his naughty Max. His kids misbehaved and didn't regret it and in their dreams and nightmares fled to the most unimaginable places. Monstrous creatures were devised from his studio, but no more frightening than the grownups in his stories or the cloud of the Holocaust that darkened his every page.

Subject: RE: Obit: Maurice Sendak (1928-2012)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 08 May 12 - 04:16 PM

More for above the line:

Really Rosie, part 1 and part 2 -- the Sendak-directed animation of Carole King's musical setting of the Nutshell Library stories. (This is a full digitization of the VHS tape, including several seconds of dark at the start, and the Children's Circle intro and outro.)

Also, scroll down the page here to find album covers by Sendak.

~ Becky in Long Beach

Subject: RE: Obit: Maurice Sendak (1928-2012)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 08 May 12 - 08:16 PM

He was definitely one of the great ones, a fine writer as well as illustrator.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Obit: Maurice Sendak (1928-2012)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 08 May 12 - 08:23 PM

Whoops - Really Rosie, part 1

~ Becky in Long Beach

Subject: RE: Obit: Maurice Sendak (1928-2012)
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 09 May 12 - 07:28 AM

He's joined the wild rumpus. One of my favorite author illustrators. Go in peace.

Subject: RE: Obit: Maurice Sendak (1928-2012)
From: bbc
Date: 09 May 12 - 09:18 AM

A delightfully gifted person! Rest in peace!

Barbara (an elementary school librarian & mom)

Subject: RE: Obit: Maurice Sendak (1928-2012)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 09 May 12 - 09:44 AM

brilliant writer/illustrator & good bloke

Subject: RE: Obit: Maurice Sendak (1928-2012)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 09 May 12 - 12:28 PM

He was also an outspoken atheist. He'll be missed by many, and now I have to go reread everything he ever wrote or illustrated, there won't be any more.

I read Ruth Krauss' I'll Be You And You Be Me last night, for starters.

I loved what Carole King did in the videos of the Nutshell Library. We also had a kick-ass animated In The Night Kitchen with some of the best music evvverrrrrrrrrrr.

Subject: RE: Obit: Maurice Sendak (1928-2012)
From: GUEST,SRD
Date: 09 May 12 - 03:21 PM

I was fortunate enough to see the Glyndebourne productions of Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortileges and L'Heure Espagnol that he designed. Quite brilliant.

Subject: RE: Obit: Maurice Sendak (1928-2012)
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 09 May 12 - 03:27 PM

Don't forget the Little Bear books. Magic.

Subject: RE: Obit: Maurice Sendak (1928-2012)
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 10 May 12 - 12:38 AM

Another good one gone. I first "met" him when I took a college children's literature course in the late 60s so that I could become an elementary school teacher. I can't imagine children's literature without him.

In addition to liking his books, I enjoyed his sets and costumes for the Pacific Northwest Ballet's "The Nutcracker." I was glad that it aired on PBS.

Subject: RE: Obit: Maurice Sendak (1928-2012)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 10 May 12 - 11:40 PM

I can't believe how many people have never heard of this man. He was, I thought, quite well-known, and people DO recognize Where The Wild Things Are, but what about all the rest?

Subject: RE: Obit: Maurice Sendak (1928-2012)
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 May 12 - 07:29 PM

Little Bear's Visit

Just in case you haven't come across it.

Subject: RE: Obit: Maurice Sendak (1928-2012)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 12 May 12 - 02:26 PM

What kind of music is this animnated version of In The Night Kitchen, especially after the cooks finally get the actual milk in the batter? Is it Dixieland jazz?