Monsters Monsters Everywhere!!!!

I keep coming back to monsters in my own work, partly because I grew up glued to the Muppet Show before bedtime every Sunday night and with monsters you can really explore strong emotions and feelings, really important in picture books. I’ve written a picture book about a very hungry Ravenous Beast and a picture book about family of Hugglewug Monsters.

I really can’t seem to get away from them!

So I was really delighted to be asked to pick my top five Picture Books that feature Monsters for Library Mice Blog. Before you click can you guess who the monsters are?

1 Who has a bluish-greenish nose, sharp white teeth, and big yellow eyes?

2 This monster likes to lick up the darkness?

3 Who has potatoes growing out of his pants?

4 Who wants to “scare the tuna salad” out of a boy named Sam?

5 Who does Max tame?

Monsters books give children stories with teeth that they really can hold on to. Want to see how many you got right? Find the answers here.

What are your top five Monster picture books?

The Wild Things

Terrible Yellow Eyes

Terrible Yellow Eyes is a collection of works inspired by the beloved classic, Where the Wild Things Are. As a way of paying tribute to Sendak, Cory Godbey decided to start an online tribute to Maurice Sendak and Where the Wild Things Are. As well as creating a number of pieces himself, Cory also asked a number of other artists to contribute. So far artists have included the likes of Mike Lee, Jake Parker, Pascal Campion, and Matt Dawson, just to name a few.

New posts go up by the hour, showcasing the amazing talent out there! And how important this book is to all of us.

Sendak on Sendak

Sendak on Sendak, A retrospective of the work of author and artist Maurice Sendak!

The exhibition explores Sendak’s prolific imagination through the characters, influences, and settings of his books, as well as Sendak’s quest to illustrate what he calls “the Other Story,” the hidden meanings of a text that haunt and enrich his illustrations.

Where? The Rosenbach Museum & Library from May 6, 2008 to May 3, 2009, with new works on view every four months.
A total of over 300 original watercolors, pen-and-ink sketches, doodles, manuscripts, books, and dummy books from the 1950s to today will be on display. Visitors can access new interviews with Sendak through digital touchscreens throughout the galleries. Now I know I have to get to see this I have until May 2009 to get there! Philadelphia here I come... wonder can you still get those Arts Flights from the Art Council?

Maurice Sendak

My friend Dermot sent me the link to this New York Times article celebrating Maurice Sendaks 90th birthday this year. It is an incredible moving piece. His books stole my heart when I was a little child with Where the Wild things Are and his work still captures my imagination. Maurice Sendak is my biggest influence as a writer and illustrator.
My thesis in college opened with this quote...
'There are many pictures with little words,
but combustible little words are really like time-bombs.
And the pictures are the explosion.
What I would do with a picture book was to condense
language into metaphor and symbol.
The pictures are like the operatic stage
and the words are the orchestral accompaniment'
Maurice Sendak.