How Maurice Sendak Redrew Childhood in “Where the Wild Things Are” episode artwork

EPISODE · Jun 11, 2026 · 27 MIN

How Maurice Sendak Redrew Childhood in “Where the Wild Things Are”

from Our American Stories · host iHeartPodcasts

On this episode of Our American Stories, Maurice Sendak had a rare ability to look at childhood without sentimentality. He understood its private fears and its unruly joys, and he tried to give those feelings a place to live on the page. That effort shaped the work that made him, for many, the defining children’s book artist of the twentieth century.Our own Greg Hengler traces how Sendak’s early life and restless imagination shaped the world that would become Where the Wild Things Are—a story that opened the door to a new kind of children’s literature and revealed just how powerful a picture book could be. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Jun 11, 2026

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How Maurice Sendak Redrew Childhood in “Where the Wild Things Are”

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