Where the Wild Things Are the previous year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It was voted the number one picture book in a 2012 survey of "School Library Journal" readers, not for the first time. This story of only 338 words focuses on a young boy named Max who, after dressing in his wolf costume, wreaks such havoc through his household that he is sent to bed without his supper. Max's bedroom undergoes a mysterious transformation into a jungle environment, and he winds up sailing to an island inhabited by malicious beasts known as the "Wild Things." After successfully intimidating the creatures, Max
Where the Wild Things Are and narration by Peter Schickele. In the 1980s, Sendak worked with British composer Oliver Knussen on a children's opera based on the book. The opera received its first (incomplete) performance in Brussels in 1980; the first complete performance of the final version was given by the Glyndebourne Touring Opera in London in 1984. This was followed by its first U.S. performance in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1985 and the New York City premiere by New York City Opera in 1987. A concert performance was given at The Proms in the Royal Albert Hall in London in 2002. A concert production