Many banned books were made into movies. Where the Wild Things Are may be the greatest. (2024)
The goal of Banned Books Week, which runs from September 23 to 29 this year,is simple: to emphasize the right to free expression and reading protected in the First Amendment.
The list of important books that have been banned or contested in libraries and schools across the country is always interesting to peruse; it contains many of the books considered to be among the greatest in American literature, from Moby Dick to To Kill a Mockingbird. The Harry Potter books are there too, of course, as are many other YA books deemed dangerous in communities across America.
But one of the strangest inclusions on the list is probably the 1963 children’s picture book Where the Wild Things Are, written and illustrated by the beloved author Maurice Sendak. Where the Wild Things Are is the story of a young boy named Max who runs away from home (in his dreams, of course) to a mysterious island inhabited by terrifying wild beasts. Deeming Max to be the wildest of them all, though, the beasts crown him their king and hold a Wild Rumpus in his honor.
The book is well-known to most American kids and former kids. It won the Caldecott Medal; it was on Reading Rainbow; it’s been in print for more than a half century and has sold 19 million copies, over half of which were purchased in the United States. Who would want to ban the Wild Rumpus?
Quite a few people, it seems. Its darkness and scary monsters led the child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim (who later said he hadn’t read the book, and based his critique on mothers’ descriptions) to write in a 1969 issue of Ladies’ Home Journal that the book was “psychologically damaging for 3- and 4-year-olds.” (Sendak is no stranger to controversy; another one of Sendak’s books, In the Night Kitchen, was the 24th most banned or challenged book between 2000 and 2009.)
Where the Wild Things Are is beloved much more than it’s banned. But maybe there’s something to the critique — something that Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers picked up on when they adapted the book into a 2009 feature film, which Jonze directed.
Warner Bros.
In the movie, Max is sad because his parents have split up and his mother is dating someone new. His father isn’t happy about that either. Max runs away from home and ends up on the island with the Wild Things, each of whom turns out to embody some part of Max’s sadness.
The film isn’t too explicit on that last point. But its recognition that Where the Wild Things Are has always been a kind of psychodrama — and its subsequent embrace of that aspect of the book in shaping the Wild Things’ fears, hopes, and conversations with Max — makes the whole story much richer and resonant with a wider range of ages than the picture-book crowd. Adults get sad and mad and angry and torn up inside too. Adults also sometimes need a Wild Rumpus to make sense of their real lives.
Like Sendak, Jonze and Eggers caught some heat for their film from people who felt it was too scary for 3- and 4-year-olds. Those people probably aren’t wrong, even if parents do sometimes underestimate the emotional maturity of their children (most fairy tales are terrifying, after all). But the movie really pulls off a feat that’s rare in today’s movie landscape: Instead of focusing on a narrow audience segment — just kids, or just adults who like fantasy, or just families with particularly mature young children — it manages to capture the universal experience of having difficult emotions and transform them into a story that’s already beloved by millions of kids, and those who used to be kids. It’s a quiet reminder of the power of scary-ish stories, and it’s made with warmth, humor, and wisdom.
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. Reason: This book was banned largely in the south, and psychologists called it “too dark”. Due to Max being sent to bed without dinner, it was seen as promoting child abuse, as well as witchcraft and supernatural events.
Because what Max is really really doing is feeling his anger, riding out his “rumpus” thoughts, remembering what is good again and ultimately surviving it all. It's important to remember that the wild feelings themselves are not so terrible – they are just feelings after all.
Generally hailed as Jack London's best work, The Call of the Wild is commonly challenged for its dark tone and bloody violence. Because it is seen as a man-and-his-dog story, it is sometimes read by adolescents and subsequently challenged for age-inappropriateness.
It's a book that captures "this inescapable fact of childhood," as Sendak described to Braun – "the awful vulnerability of children and their struggle to make themselves king of all wild things".
Mid-1960s: 'Where the Wild Things Are' by Maurice Sendak
When the book was finally published in 1963, it was banned because adults found it problematic that Max was punished by being sent to bed without dinner and also bristled at the book's supernatural themes.
Sendak himself said that his work is “about human emotion and life.” He didn't consider himself a kids' writer: “They're pigeonholed as children's books but the best ones aren't — they're just books.” Maybe we should trust the kids, not to mention the National Education Association, which lists Where the Wild Things ...
It also shows young readers that even if they sometimes want to be wild things, a home with loving discipline is the best place to be. In addition, Max's adventures demonstrate that children's imaginations are a wonderful thing, taking them anywhere they want to go.
In Max's spontaneous dreamworld, the film appears to drop any sense of a traditional narrative. Each of the Wild Things seems to represent a different emotion or feeling that exists within the mind of young Max, and therefore represents a challenge that he must overcome.
For all time, the most frequently banned book is 1984 by George Orwell. (How very Orwellian!) The most banned and challenged book for 2020 was George by Alex Gino.
This is the list of the most banned books in the first part of the 2022-2023 school year, according to the PEN America Index of School Book Bans. Gender Queer: A Memoir remained at the top of the list, as it was in the 2021-2022 school year, joined this time by Flamer.
This may seem an innocent journey, but throughout the twentieth century and across various US states, the book was banned for its strong female characters, use of magic, promotion of socialist values and attribution of human characteristics to animals.
Ultimately, this beautiful children's book has so much to teach children and adults alike about storytelling. It is easy to see the importance of honesty, transformational personal struggle, and a grounding force in every opportunity to tell a story. As Max would say, “Let the wild rumpus start!”
Wild Things offers a way for children to see how angry feelings and rebellious thoughts can be expressed, with all the strength of a band of terrible monsters, and yet when the rage is all over, a parent still loves them.
Max is a character that many children can relate to and opens the door for teaching children responsible behavior as well as using their imaginations. In the end, the message of the story is one of family love.
Parents need to know that director Spike Jonze's adaptation of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are isn't appropriate for younger kids, even those who adore the book (there's a big difference between looking at a beautifully illustrated children's story and watching a live-action movie full of sights and sounds ...
Some school districts aimed to ban the book from schools because they believed the book has unsuitable topics for children to read about. One major complaints was that the story portrayed talking animals that can communicate and act just like humans.
Introduction: My name is Kimberely Baumbach CPA, I am a gorgeous, bright, charming, encouraging, zealous, lively, good person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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