Maurice Sendak - 1928-2012

The world lost possibly the most visionary of all picture book artists today with the passing of illustrator and author Maurice Sendak.

Born June 10, 1928 in Brooklyn, New York, Sendak was a sickly child. He spent much of that youth inside drawing and creating. His first published illustrations appeared in 1947 and he continued painting until his death.

Maurice began illustrating books for other authors before breaking out with his own effort with the Caldecott winning "Where The Wild Things Are" in 1963. That classic tale is perhaps the most memorable of his long and storied career and has inspired countless authors and artists to reach for their dreams. I remember being mesmerized by both the the story and pictures.

The simplicity of both the story arc and text are deceptive. The book The Art of Maurice Sendak details the journey that the artist went on in order to create the masterpiece. The seeds for the book were planted as early as 1955 and then underwent drastic changes over dozens of drafts before it crystallized in the form that we know and love today.

Many people were disturbed by the book claiming it was too scary or even that it encouraged defiance of parental authority. In spite of the naysayers, "Wild Things" sold over 700,000 copies in its original hardcover printing. Through 2009, the book has sold over 19,000,000 copies.

Though Sendak went on to write and illustrate over twenty picture books and illustrated over fifty other books, he never quite matched the success that "Where The Wild Things Are" achieved.

This is unfortunate since many of his other books such as "In the Night Kitchen" are every bit as magical and brilliantly crafted.

A posthumous picture book called "My Brother's Book" is scheduled for release next February.

Read an excellent tribute to Sendak in the New York Times here.
Buy Maurice Sendak and the Art of Children's Book Illustration

So You Want To Be An Author

Once again last week I was approached by someone who has written "the best picture book ever". Seems to happen with shocking frequency. This person was sure that they have a Caldecott winner on their hands if not at least an Amazon bestseller. If only they could get me to do some really cool illustrations, we'd be riding the cash wagon all the way to the bank. Even though it's the first book that they have ever attempted to write and that admittedly, the story isn't really finished yet and that they still need to work out the ending and... you get the picture.



The problem with this scenario is that most folks have no idea how the publishing industry works. They have no clue that 99 times out of 100, the publisher buys the manuscript from the author and then contracts with an illustrator. They have no idea that once sold, the author has very little input into what the illustrations end up looking like. They don't understand that a large portion of publishers will not accept non-agented submissions. That even agents accept only a tiny portion of all the manuscripts they see. At this point I usually dash their dreams of stardom and unbelievable wealth by suggesting that they do some homework and maybe join a writers group or go to a writing workshop. In short, Publishing is a tough game to play and the better you know the game, the better your odds of scoring. I am part of a writing group that is populated with many authors who are having great success currently in the YA fiction market and it's a treat to eavesdrop on the conversation threads. Enjoy this little instructive cartoon about the misconceptions of what it takes to be a writer. I laughed so hard I about fell out of my chair!

Thanks to Rock Canyon Writer's own Jennifer Nielsen for the video link