Where the Wild Things Are

 

Title: Where the wild things are

Author/Illustrator: Maurice Sendak

Age: K-10

Award: Caldecott

 

Where the wild things are is a great book that can be used in creative ways to encourage cross-curricular learning. The book tells a story of mischievous Max who after being sent to his room for misbehaving falls asleep and embarks on a journey to discover scary imagined creatures. Adventurous Max meets the monsters, commands them and has fun with them till he stars missing his mother. At this point, as if by magic, Max sends the creatures away and is woken up by the smell of his hot supper waiting for him in his own room. The book contains plenty of colorful and imagination stimulating pictures that can be used for descriptive writing. Children can come up with a variety of adjectives and descriptive phrases and some of the lessons can be devoted to thesaurus work and coming up with word banks. Also, the book provides opportunities to involve some drama in the English lessons by making the children pretend they are Max in the jungle.