You know the stories, you love the characters, but do you know the story behind the writer?

Born in 1928, Maurice Sendak was a sickly child who passed the time by sketching the children who were able to play in the street below his window. Sendak excelled in art during high school and found a job decorating store windows. When a book editor discovered his talent, Sendak’s skill was much in demand as a storybook illustrator. Once he started writing books as well as illustrating them, Sendak’s stories allowed children to experience places and journeys not often found in other books, including a magic land in Where the Wild Things Are, In the Night Kitchen’s noisy adventure, and a land in Outside Over There where a young girl must save her baby sister from goblins.

Today, Sendak continues to write and illustrate stories, and he finds ways to introduce socially important themes to young readers. In a one-volume reference, Maurice Sendak details the life and real-life influences of this famous author, revealing the person behind the words, and the author behind the literature we love.