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Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
A small act of mischief launches a boy into a lush, dreamlike voyage where roaring creatures crown him king—and his heart learns what it truly wants. With luminous simplicity and wild imagination, Where the Wild Things Are celebrates the untamable power of play and the comfort of finding your way home.
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In Where the Wild Things Are, did you enjoy ...
... a child stepping through a bedroom-made portal into a vast, wordless adventure?
Journey by Aaron Becker
If Max’s boat ride to the land of the Wild Things lit you up, you’ll love how a girl in Journey draws a red door on her bedroom wall and slips into a boundless world of canals, airships, and danger. Like Max becoming king after a bold stare, she uses her own daring and creativity to escape guards, rescue a purple bird, and find her way home. It has that same hush of nighttime possibility and the thrill of charting your own path before returning to where you belong.
... a dreamlike voyage where a child literally creates the world around him?
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
If the “wild rumpus” and Max’s moonlit sail felt like pure imagination made real, Harold and the Purple Crayon doubles down: Harold draws the moon, an apple tree guarded by a dragon, an ocean he crosses by a hastily sketched boat, and finally a window that leads him back to bed. Like Max taming the Wild Things with a look, Harold tames the night with a crayon—playful, surreal, and entirely a child’s rules.
... a quiet, close-focus night journey that centers a single child’s inner world?
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
If you loved being alone with Max as he becomes king, dances the rumpus, and then quietly decides to go home, Owl Moon offers that same intimate hush. A child and a parent slip into the snowy night to call a great horned owl; it’s just the two of them, breath and crunching snow, until the owl finally appears. The spotlight stays tight—one small adventure, a big feeling—then warmth and home at the end, like Max’s supper “still hot.”
... a symbolic journey through big emotions that resolves in a single, luminous image of hope?
The Red Tree by Shaun Tan
If Max’s wild island felt like a picture of anger and freedom—with the yellow-eyed monsters, the crowning, the lonely decision to sail back—The Red Tree turns emotions into striking, surreal scenes. A girl navigates gloomy cityscapes and strange creatures, while a tiny red leaf quietly follows her; in the end, a radiant red tree blossoms in her room. It captures that same allegory of stormy feelings giving way to comfort and home.
... the comforting return from bold imaginings to the certainty of being loved at home?
The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
If Max’s journey—from mischief to ruling the Wild Things to choosing to return for his hot supper—moved you, The Runaway Bunny is a tender echo. The little bunny imagines running away as a fish, a rock, even a bird; his mother lovingly imagines how she’ll find him each time, until he decides to stay and have a carrot. It delivers that same emotional landing: big adventure in the mind, and then the warmth of coming back.
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