Where the Wild Things Are
This is an inspired children's book about a boy's passage through tempestuous aspects of life. Max, a naughty little boy, sent to bed without his supper, sails to the land of the wild things, where he becomes their king.
Stats for nerds
7recommend
13mentions
13people
2017–2026years
54% recommend46% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I have always liked The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, Chicken Soup With Rice by Maurice Sendak, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss and Yertle The Turtle by Dr. Seuss.
- Answer:
During development, children are in a condition where their fears are predominant. The world is big and scary and they need conditions and support to begin to process their emotions, all of them, into what I consider a “rainbow.” Each should be adjacent to another, as life is best lived with access to and the benefit of each when appropriate circumstances call them from their “library” so to speak.
It’s not “forcing” a child to sit through it, as much as it is “presenting” them with an outside work of art which REFLECTS BACK TO THEM a validation of their experience along different stages of development.
One of the best examples of what I’m talking about is the book “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak. It is canon. Perhaps you had shitty parents who didn’t “make you” engage with literature.
An interviewer once asked him “Don’t you think the book is too scary for kids?” His reply lambasted the question with “What is wrong with you? Were you never a child? EVERYTHING IS SCARY TO A CHILD.”
So, there it is buckaroo. You may not like the tone of my response, but I think your question was phrased in a flippant and pedantic manner to begin with. Fire, meet fire, and you’re welcome.
- At that age I’ve had great success with simple sports toys (wiffle ball set, or toddler sized soccer ball and net). Those little two-wheeler bikes that start without pedals and can have pedals attached once she masters the walking version. A wagon. A beach/sandbox sand toy set.
Also those Brio wooden train sets. And magnetic blocks or wooden puzzles. Any type of building set accessible to hands that don’t yet have precise control. Basically something tactile that helps them engage with the physical world.
She’ll also be learning to identify numbers and letters and mastering colors and shapes. Kids that age LOVE learning if they’re encouraged in it and it takes the form of play. The more open-ended the better.
If her parents read to her on a regular basis, she’ll probably love new books. At this age, think Dr. Seuss and Where the Wild Things Are.
Expensive digital stuff adds very little compared to simple open-ended timeless toys at that age. Some of the best gifts are very inexpensive — crayons and coloring books. Bubble wand and soap. Alphabet magnets. A bucket of plastic zoo animals. A doll or plushie small enough for her to carry around with her.
Consider getting something inexpensive that will delight her and then ask her parents what they wish they had $150 to spend on for her.
- "The Gruffalo" is fine, but literature is more about depth than novelty. A book like Eoin McLaughlin's "The Hug" is just as easy to understand and also has a unique construction that makes it like "no other children's book".
That doesn't make either "The Gruffalo" or "The Hug" comparable to the depth of works like "Winnie the Pooh", "Where the Wild Things Are", or "The Story of Ferdinand".
- The only book with a foil I'd not avoid is Where the Wild Things Are.
- I wish there were more facts in modern novels as well. Fiction’s alleged communicative purpose is to entertain the reader but I gather it’s too simplistic. Dostoyevsky’s Crime & Punishment seems to be to be an analysis on the soul. It entertains because it captivates.
For example, “Where the wild things are” has captivated both my child and I since we first read it sitting on the floor of a bookstore. It’s the kind of book I had been dreaming of writing myself.
It is an illustrated album explaining children’s psychology to children of all ages.
We can read it over and over again for the next few years.
I wish there were more illustrated albums explaining very complicated or abstract concepts using beautiful drawings and simple, rhyming verses per page.
Most educational books are too informative, they explain lots of concepts on a page. And most children’s books are puerile or too patronising.
