Where the Wild Things Are is a children's book written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak that won the 1964 Caldecott Medal. The illustrations use an expressionist and surreal style with exaggerated features of the wild creatures, bold patterns and colors, and precision pen work to imagine Max's world. Sendak employs long lines, rounded shapes, dark and saturated colors, sketched textures, and dimensional compositions to transport readers into the eerie yet imaginative landscape where Max interacts with the wild things.

1. Where the Wild Things Are
Written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak

2. Basic
information
• Where the Wild Things Are,
Written and Illustrated by
Maurice Sendak
• Winner of the 1964 Caldecott
Medal

3. Style & Media  The style we see here is expressionism but
could also venture into surrealism.
 The features of the “wild things” are large
and exaggerated.
 The illustrator uses bold patterns and
colors.
 Although Max is human and has human
traits, most of the story in drawn in an
imaginary world.
 There is a lot of precision pen work in the
drawings.
 There are many bold and dark colors to
make this world seem big and foreign to
the reader.

4. Line  There are a lot of longer lines in
this book. The ones here create
length in the trees and setting. The
show the reader how big Max’s
imagination is.
 Other lines are thin and sketchy to
create texture in the “wild things”

5. Shape
 The shapes in this story are
rounded and curved, suggesting
a lot of nature. The “wild things” all
have complex shapes that vary in
each of them.
 The shape of the creatures
conveys movement and supports
the imaginative tone of the story.

6. Color
 The colors in this book give off a specific
mood.
 The dark tones give the reader a sense of
nighttime and isolation on this secluded
island of beasts.
 The pictures are very saturated and
contain almost no negative space.
 The colors are achromatic and include
some deep shades of blue, brown, and
green. The may coincide with the
loneliness Max feels when he misses his
home at the end.

7. Texture
• As stated earlier, there are
sketched and crosshatched
pen lines in the “wild things”
that convey texture in their
skin and/or fur.
• The way they are designed
gives off the impression of
rough or scaly skin, course and
fine hair, and soft fur.
• Texture is one of the strongest
elements that Sendak uses in
this book.

8. Composition
 The background of the
illustrations is flatter than the
foreground, but this gives the
characters more dimension
and makes them almost pop
right off the page.
 There is a good balance of flat
colors as well as detail and
more complexity.
 The dark eerie scenery makes
this world seem vast.