A book is really like a lover. It arranges itself in your life in a way that is beautiful.

I had lost my sister recently, too, which meant that my whole family was gone. I was the baby of the family. There were five Sendaks and there were five Wild Things, and now there's only one Sendak, and he's about to bite the dust, too! Life, as I said before, was very difficult at that time and so it was natural that there would be a change in the look of things. Also, I was very impressed with my own strength in doing this under the circumstances in which I was living.

Mothers and children are human beings, and they will sometimes do the wrong thing.

Sipping once, sipping twice, sipping chicken soup with rice.

I think there is something barbaric in children, and it's missing in lots of books for them because we don't like to think of it. We want them to be happy [but] childhood is a very tough time.

Kids never get pissed at their parents. Unheard of.

I don't write for children. I write, and somebody says, 'That's for children.'