An Imagination Experience
October 16, 2009
Abstracting the pictorial layout of Where the Wild Things Are.
Published in 1963, Where the Wild Things Are is a children’s book written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. It is widely regarded as one of the most beloved books of it’s genre, winning the Caldecott Medal for American picture book excellence. Simple in narrative (just 9 sentences), the story relies heavily on Sendak’s immersive illustrations to bring a distant, monster-inhabited world to life. These illustrations are implemented into the layout of the book which reinforces the story line and compliments the core theme of imagination.
Plot
The story begins with a boy named Max getting in trouble with his Mother, who sends him to his room. Locked away, Max proceeds to entertain himself by transforming his room into another world using his imagination. He travels by boat through this world “to Where the Wild Things Are.” Upon arriving and encountering the Wild Things, Max asserts himself by “starting into all their yellow eyes without blinking once.” Max is then crowned as the king, and he embraces his congregation by engaging is some “wild rumpus.” However after all the fun, Max decides he’s actually really lonely, leaving the Wild Things to travel back home “where someone loved him best of all.”
Visualization
Fundamentally, the book is all about the power of imagination.
Sendak’s illustrations carry the book—detailed, rich and vivid they bring a distant make-believe world to life. These are especially important when Max arrives at the land of the Wild Things he constructs in his mind.
After numerous reads, it becomes clear how strong an influence that the design and layout of the book is to reinforces the story, and more importantly assert the theme of imagination. The size and placement of visuals vary considerably throughout the book, and they’re used to indicate where we are in Max’s concocted world and to reinforce the imagination experience.
Reality
The story through spreads 1–5 take place in Max’s house. First outside his room as he gets in trouble, then moving to his room where he’s sequestered for his mischievous behavior. These spreads introduce a simple layout: story on the left page, accompanying illustration on the right. The illustrations start out small, centered on the page. However, as Max is left alone in his room, his imagination begins to transform his room into the other world he will enter. As this plays out, the illustration size on the right page enlarges in tandem. The pretend world is complete on spread five and as he turns to enter it, the illustration is grows to a full-bleed. Below are some sketches that abstract the layouts, separating the illustrations from narrative. Arrows indicate a change in illustration size from the previous spread and the direction in which it’s shifting.
Transition
Spreads 7–8 show Max traveling by boat to his fantasy land. The illustrations on these spreads traverse the gutter, spilling onto the left page which has thus far been reserved for the narrative. What we’re seeing is the visual experience of the book expanding as Max’s imagination is.
Now we’re at the heart of the story, in the land of the Wild Things. Max arrives on spread 9 and the layout reflects this by extending the illustration to span the full width of the two pages. Although understated, the illustrations on the following spreads do in fact inch down, growing in size. On spread 11, Max asserts himself becoming king of the Wild Things and proclaims his first decree: “Let the Wild rumpus start!”
Fill in the rumpus
With this, Sendak transitions us into to three full bleed illustration spreads with no narrative. This is the genius of the book, the apex of a story all about imagination. Sendak challenges the audience here—whether a parent reading or a child listening—to use their imagination and come up with their own story for the three spreads. A disrupting surprise at first, it’s brilliant show of Sendak’s restraint that not only empowers his illustrations, but demands the reader’s creative engagement.
After all the horsing around, Max is feeling lonely and decides he really would rather be home. Much to the chagrin of the Wild Things, he leaves and travels by boat back home. The size and layout of the illustrations echo the narrative again here, this time receding in size, much in the same fashion as the travel there. Finally, he arrives back in his room and Sendak cleverly notes we’re back to reality by leaving final spread without a visual.
Here are the book’s abstracted illustrations in their entirety. The pattern of the illustrated layouts is clear:
Conversion to film
Today, Spike Jones’ cinematic interpretation of the book comes to the big screen. I can’t help but wonder if Jones will bring the techniques used in the book’s illustration layout experience to the film. The technique used in the book could be equally powerful in the film, contrasting one film aspect ratio with a full-screen experience when Max is in the world of the Wild Things. Scenes of “wild rumpus” could be being devoid of dialogue, only relying on the film’s soundtrack to carry the narrative.
Conclusion
My mother read Where the Wild Things Are to me when I was a child, and tells me how much I loved it. Now I have my own son, and months ago she gave me a copy as a gift to share with him. I often pick it out as one of the books I read to him before bed and together we’ve probably read it hundreds of times. It’s through all these readings I was able abstract the pattern of the illustrations, appreciating the subtle layout shifts that make such a huge difference in the visual experience.