Home | Back

SHARON RANDALL: Taming the Wild Things: New audience gives new meaning to Max's magic trick

Share_print Print Story    |    Comments    |   

October 30, 2009

By Sharon Randall

Scripps Howard News Service

When my children were small and wild at heart, they loved Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are."

At least, I think they loved it. They never said they didn't. It was definitely one of my favorites. That would explain why I read it to them time and again, night after night. I liked it. That was my rule. To read a book more than once, I had to like it a lot.

I think that's how it works in most families. The books that get read are books the reader likes. That is as it should be. The reader should get to pick. Same goes for storytelling.

I loved Max's magic trick, how he tamed the Wild Things by staring into their terrible eyes. I used that same trick on my kids. But my favorite part was where Max would grow weary of romping with Wild Things and long to be where someone loved him best of all.

I would read that part slowly in my very best voice. Then I'd stop and look in my children's sleepy eyes to let that thought pass between us -- to let it linger for a moment and settle into our bones -- that one-of-a-kind comfort of being with someone who loves you best of all.Then we'd give a knowing nod to how lucky we were, and I'd go on reading the story.

I thought of that recently, late one night, talking with my daughter-in-law, Jesse, who was visiting for the weekend. Earlier that evening we had gone with my husband to see Spike Jonze's film version of Sendak's classic on the IMAX screen, where even the littlest monsters were big enough to scare the bejeezes out of us. After the movie, Jesse and I sat in the hot tub under a big desert sky watching planes fly in and out of Las Vegas.

She couldn't wait to see the movie again, she said, with her husband, my youngest, a rookie teacher who'd stayed home to catch up on school work. "He'll love that movie," I said.

I told her that I used to read "Wild Things" to him, and that my favorite part was the line about wanting to be where somebody loves you best of all.

I was about to say I hope that he will always remember that line and the sound of my voice and the look he saw in my eyes as I read it. And that he will always be wild at heart ....

Suddenly, she gasped. "I saw something move," she said, "over there in the shadows."

I smiled. "Probably a jack rabbit. We get busloads."

"It was pretty big," she said. "Oh! It just moved again!"

That evening, our neighbor -- never one to jest about matters of life and limb -- reported seeing in our yard just before sunset a rather large bobcat.

I'm sticking with the rabbit story. But just in case, I'm working on Max's magic trick.




Comments
By Posting to this site, you agree to our Terms of Service Be polite. Inappropriate posts may be removed. Recordpub.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post.

Login above or Register to comment.
 0 Total Comments Home | Back