Farewell to the Creator of the World of wild things!

 

The whole world mourns the death of Maurice Sendak, the celebrated children’s book author who introduced us to the world of wild things almost three decades ago and it continues to intrigue children and adults alike even today. I know it feels like blasphemy now …… but having grown up in India, I had no idea who he was until I began reading to my son in the US. When I looked up the library’s recommendations for kids, Maurice Sendak’s works topped it's Good reads list and believe me when I say that it’s not just for kids!  I read somewhere that one of the joys of having children is happily losing yourself in books you loved as a child and Maurice Sendak’s “Where the wild things are” is a classic that best represents that sentiment. Who knows….may be three decades from now, Abhay would probably be reading this timeless tale to his little wild thing! J

Having already featured some his famous books in my earlier posts, in remembrance of the great author who was also a magnificent  illustrator, today I looked up another one his gems, “Pierre:A Continuous tale in Five Chapters and a Prologue” brought alive on Youtube. In fact, I was thrilled to find that Abhay remembered me reading this book to him back in the US. This is a story of a boy named Pierre who just doesn’t care! He couldn’t care less if his mother wishes him good morning or wants him to accompany her to town. He couldn’t could less even if his father pleads with him to care! Tired of the “I-don’t-care attitude” of their son, they leave him at home and head out for some work, when a lion enters the house. Even with the lion threatening Pierre, Pierre just does not seem to care! Pierre’s parents come home to discover a lion on Pierre’s bed and when they question the lion, the lion in turn replies ‘I don’t care”! They instantly guess who’s inside the lion – Pierre of course. As Pierre is rescued from the lion and is asked if he cares to be dropped home, he finally answers “I care”! Even though the illustrations are hilarious and the rhyming verses seem to read like a song, the moral is not lost. Beautifully framed, this one carries a message important enough for even the most jaded ones to ‘care’!