Nordling here.
Childhood is chaos, and that's as it should be. It's messy, it doesn't color in the lines, and its epiphanies aren't discovered on a map, but off the beaten path. Maurice Sendak knew this better than most, and that's why his work resonated with the young and old over the years.
Maurice Sendak died Tuesday, after having a stroke on Friday. He was 83. He was childless, but of course that's not really true. We who loved his work are all in a way his children, and his work taught us to explore, to get dirty, and through that truly discover what it means to be alive.
His most well-known work, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, is practically a Bible for many of us. Sendak's work gave all children comfort in knowing that it wasn't all joy and wonder - that while those things could be found in abundance, it was a struggle just as valid as the struggle that adults have every day of their lives.
We here at Ain't It Cool mourn his loss. I'm going to put on WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE tonight and celebrate the life of one of the great captains of childhood.
