Where the Wild Things Are.....

Get excited. Check out this profile about Spike Jonze and his long journey to bring "Where the Wild Things Are" to the screen. The best part of the article points to Mauric Sendak, the author, and Spike Jonze's affinity for the same screen vision. Ultimately, the movie is attempting to be about what being a nine year old (or may I suggest, even a 4 year old?) feels like. x Max in the book is a wild thing with wild emotions and imagination, so glad this is being done so well!

Last year, while working on a firefighters unit, my students also explored monsters. They kept refering to the fire alarm as a 'thing' that might 'get angry and yell,' so we used this as a starting place to talk about scary things --lightning, thunder, anger, darkness, shots, snakes-- all "monsters" to children and adults alike. We then talked about how we can be powerful over the monsters we fear, by saying we aren't scared, finding an adult, imagining them away. We read many great books like "There is a Monster at the End of this Book," "There's a Nightmare in My Closet" and "Go Away Big Green Monster." Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things are Are" is so wonderful precisely because the monsters aren't to be feared--Max easily conquers, controls and is general powerful over the monsters of his world.

Get excited, movie comes out October 16.