The naked hero, Mickey, wallows in dough, swims in milk and otherwise disports himself in a manner that some might interpret as a masturbatory fantasy. In a laudatory New York Times Magazine (subscription required) profile published on June 7, 1970, before the book came out, writer Saul Braun got a peek at the unfinished drawings and wrote: The book’s naked protagonist, Mickey, has suffered the humiliation of having diapers painted onto him again and again by the bowdlerizers.īut once again, Sendak had to know what taboos he was breaking. It’s been challenged in schools or libraries by parents or authorities in such places as Camden, N.Y., (1974) Northridge, Ill., (1977) Beloit, Wis., (1985) Champaign, Ill., (1988) Morrisonville, N.Y., (1990) Jacksonville, Fla., (1991) Cornish, Maine, (1991) Elk River, Minn., (1992) and El Paso, Texas, (1994), according to Banned Books: Literature Suppressed on Social Grounds(1998) by Dawn B.

His follow-up to Wild Things, 1970’s In the Night Kitchen, has been vilified and banned across the country. I’m not such a prig that I would completely deny Sendak the umbrage he so enjoys. And last, Bettelheim died in 1990, which means he can’t talk back. Also, Bettelheim eventually recanted his criticism of the book (according to Sendak) and his most famous book, The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales(1976), makes a Sendakian case for frightful children’s literature.

So why does he persist in his Bettelheim complaint? Because as the most important person ever to attack him directly, Bettelheim made a much better foil than a pesky reviewer, a clueless parent, or an uptight librarian. … But they may well prove frightening, accompanied as they are by a pointless and confusing story.” Library Journal’s critic wrote, “This is the kind of story that many adults will question and for many reasons, but the child will accept it wisely and without inhibition, as he knows it is written for him.” Publishers’ Weekly offered a mix of praise and criticism, saying that “the plan and technique of the illustrations are superb. “We should not like to have it left about where a sensitive child might find it to pore over in the twilight,” stated the Journal of Nursery Education. 22, 1966, New Yorker (subscription required) profile of Sendak, Nat Hentoff collects several of the critical responses. Some reviewers did think the book might be too frightening for children. Today, there are 19 million copies of it in print around the world. In March 1964, it received the Caldecott Medal for the best American picture book, the most prestigious prize of its kind.

Bettelheim’s assessment was negative, but hardly book-wrecking, especially considering the grand reception the book enjoyed.

Where the wild things are 1963