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Well-Being

Don’t Miss the Best Movie of the Year

Posted October 27, 2009

Whiner-in-Chief, Offspring #2, and The Guru just had a great — underline that, great — night at the movies. And we urge you, we we beg you, to follow in our footsteps. “Where the Wild Things Are” isn’t just an absolutely terrific adaptation of a timeless children’s classic.

It’s the knock-out, no-doubt-about-it, best movie of 2009.

Two irresistible points. We have never, ever, ever seen a movie that did a better job of conveying the exuberant, terrifying, ecstatic, heartbreaking, violent, emotionally-over-the-top experience of just being a little boy. And we’ve likewise never seen a movie that conveyed the uncontrollable highs and lows of emotional life as experienced by any of us, no matter what our age may be.

See this movie. But we must add one more point: Watching it, we were reminded of just how deeply a children’s book can influence our lives. It doesn’t even need to be as visually captivating or beautifully written as Maurice Sendak’s book is. There’s no doubt that Whiner-in-Chief was just as influenced by Nancy Drew mysteries (and Brenda Starr: Star Reporter comic books) as she was by Little Women. Some people don’t even think Little Women is well-written. We don’t care.

The Whiner wants to know: What were the children’s books that influenced you or your family? Why did they matter to you so much? Are there any children’s books that you’ve read as an adult and still been influenced by?

Reader Comments

  1. jerla

    I never heard of Where the Wild Things Are until I was in college, taking a course in children’s lit. I did read and re-read all the Little House books. Robert A. Heinlein’s juveniles like Citizen of the Galaxy taught me There Ain’t No Such Thing As a Free Lunch [TANSTAAFL]. The Danny Dunn books taught me a whole lot of really bogus science. The Boxcar Children and the Pippi Longstocking books taught me that children could get along Just Fine without interfering parents. I read juvenile biographies of famous people by the dozen, and learned not to put a potato into a fire to bake without pricking it so it won’t explode.
    And I bless the day my teacher gave me a note to the city children’s librarian, telling her I was ready to move up from the children’s library to the adult library upstairs. Whoo-hoo! Things get a LOT more interesting in the adult sections. Especially in the Robert Heinlein section. Boy howdy!

  2. Holly

    Margaret Wise Brown’s entire collection on the bookshelf! In particular “The Little Fur Family” and “The Little Flat Flounder” have continued to have special meaning for our family, and of course “Goodnight Moon,” which we always gift to new babies. Berenstain Bears books from the Berlin PX were weekly treat purchases, fun, light, but always instructive in their own special way. Another all-time favorite, “Dr. DeSoto”, about a fox dentist and his mouse patient (”Frankooberrymush is a household word!) and Bagpuss books from the British PX. Richard Scarry’s minibooks in German and Italian while we resided in foreign countries helped with basic vocab, even the adults!

  3. Florence

    I loved (and still do) the Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House books and Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy-Tacy series. There was a Cherry Ames nurse series but I can’t recall who the author was. And I loved all the Louisa May Alcott books. They were good books to read as a child and are still good 50 years later.

  4. Kate

    I never did like Where the Wild Things Are. I think that by the time it came along in our house, I was just too old for it. Children’s Lit favorites for me began with the Richard Scary books, went through most of Andrew Lang’s fairy stories, hung around The Wind In The Willows for a while, took off adventuring with Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain and Westmark series’, wandered around the English countryside with the Borrowers and (when I wanted something a bit goofy) drained celery and carrots with Bunnicula. And that’s not even counting the hours I spent with Alice and the Cheshire Cat, or Bilbo and the dwarves.

    I guess it’s not all kid’s stuff…but by the time I was exposed to WTWTA, I was far past the point where I was capable even of liking it. Max is an horrible brat.

  5. Tamara

    When I read The Lorax to my daughter anymore, it makes me cry.

  6. Diane

    Thanks for the movie recommendation. I’m taking the kids to see it on Friday. I was influenced by many books as a child. Loved the Pippi series and Dr. Seuss. Probably my favorite book growing up was Where the Red Fern Grows. It broke my heart.

    I’ve been reading my 7th grader’s assigned books. The Giver, Into the Dust, and The Outsiders are all recent reads. Good stuff.

  7. Mary

    Nancy Drew, of course. And “No Children, No Pets” was a wonderful 1950s view of Florida – before it was ruined by developers.

  8. jerla

    Ohmigoodness! How could I ever forget No Children, No Pets …

  9. jerla

    … and I connect The Pink Motel with No Children, No Pets. Pretty similar themes, I think. Different authors, though.

  10. abo gato

    A friend of ours, the kid from down the street who’s a couple of years older than ours, told me the very same thing about this movie. He loved it and said it was one of the best movies he’d EVER seen. We were not WTWTA readers at our house, too old for it as kids ourselves and our son ended up loving Seuss and “A Day With Wilbur Robinson”….I was a voracious reader as a kid (and still am). I grew up with a brother and sister who were enough older than me so as to make me be an only child. Had no one to play with and had to fabricate my own kind of entertainment. Books were huge to me.

    My parents took me to church three times a week….Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night. I hated it until I found the church library. For a Southern Baptist church, they had a surprising library. (I’ll bet they changed all that in the 80’s)….anyway, I discovered all the Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Tom Swift series. I read every one of them. I also read “The Wrinkle in Time” from that library. I was stunned as a kid by the books I read. Then, like Jerla, I found science fiction. My dad belonged to the Sci Fi book club and I read every book that showed up in our house from that and found more at the real library as well as the one at church. Heinlein was great. Philip K. Dick was a god. Philip Jose Farmer. I loved those guys.

    I have a very distinct memory of going to the school library when I was 8 and in third grade, I chose “The War of the Worlds” and took it to check out. (I can still see exactly what the book looked like….a solid mustard color cover and the book was about 5 by 7 and about 2 1/2 inches thick) The librarian tried to tell me I wasn’t old enough or able enough to read that book. I remember having quite the fit then and got the book, read it in a very short time and took it back to that librarian and told her what was in it so that she could be sure that it was not beyond me.

    Groups who want to ban or burn books make me lose my mind. There is very little in the world better than a well written book.

  11. Crayon

    I loved Grimm’s fairy tales, the Mary Poppins series, Henry Huggins and Ramona and Beezus stories and anything by Dr. Seuss. I adored “The Velveteen Rabbit”, “A Wrinkle in Time”, the Raggedy Ann and Andy series, also The Borrower’s. My third grade teacher would read us Trixie Belden mysteries every day after lunch break. Because I love illustrations sometimes as much as the story, I fell in love with N.C. Wyeth’s artwork.

    The harder the spell was to break in the fairy tales, the more I wanted to keep reading them. Usually, someone had to unenchant a family member or loved one and to that end, go on incredible expeditions under extreme duress, hardship and disguises and finally outwit the witch or giant that had whatever it was that could break the spell. I never got tired of them and still read Grimm’s fairy tales at least once a year.

  12. Chris

    Did it bother anyone else that the TV production of the Little House books took so many liberties with the original stories? I had those books memorized as a kid and the show drove me nuts. I even convinced my parents to go to the annual Laura Ingalls Wilder pageant in DeSmet, South Dakota one summer!
    Nancy Drew, Happy Hollisters, Trixie Belden, Boxcar Children, Betsy,Tacy and Tib. All favorites.
    I have reread Alice in Wonderland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (and yes, the Little House books) as an adult and they are evne better now.
    Have always considered the Hobbit and Ring series adult books.
    One thing I can’t get into is the Harry Potter series – maybe because I don’t ahve kids to read it to?
    Would love to see Where the Wild Things Are but also anxiously awaiting Tim Burton’s Alice.

  13. jerla

    Yeah, the television series of Little House had not much to do with the books, except for the names of the characters. Pa crying in every episode. A fairly prosperous farm, supported by Pa’s working in a saw mill. Mary being married to a blind man who regains his sight. The blind school. Some things seemed wrong, but were actually in the later books. I think Laura did call Almanzo “Manly” .. not sure that he called her “Beth”. I visited the Wilder house near Springfield, MO a few years ago … nice little place with a small museum. It’s a nice look into their lives after the South Dakota years.

  14. Drew

    Wow, where to begin? Kudos to Abo Gato on the sentiment against those who would dare tell you what not to read or would burn books.

    I took a Kid Lit course in college when Sendak’s WTWTA was published so I didn’t get the benefit of reading it as a real kid, but I thought it was powerful. I was far more impressed as an adult with “The Giving Tree.” So profound about all our stages of life, and so full of love.

    One of my most memorable early childhood books was Enchantment Tales for Children by Margaret Evans Price, marvelously illustrated Greek mythology stories. Beautiful. My mother read it to me (over and over at my insistence). Jason & the Golden Fleece, Orpheus and Eurydice, Pandora, all became my great incentive to learn to read. And I learned to read w/ comics, mostly Superman & Batman.

    Charles Schulz saved my sanity in 5th & 6th grade; I was the blockhead in my classes; so lonely a time but so much solace in my beloved books. Charlie Brown convinced me I wasn’t alone. I read all Hugh Lofting’s Dr. Dolittle books betw. 4th & 6th grade. (Chris, I agree on the movie issue. The Dr. Dolittle movie butchered Lofting’s work; unforgivable!) I also read Verne’s 20,000 Leagues at that time & on to the rest of his & H.G. Wells works. Again, like Abo, I love Sci Fi. All of C.S. Lewis’ fantasy books fed my lit hunger, as well as Heinlein, Clark, E.E. Smith, Farmer, Del Rey, Lesser, Nourse, Wollheim, Jack Vance (a sci fi writer who also went by the name of Ellery Queen when he wore his mystery hat), Van Vogt, Poul Andersen, and so many more. My walls remain lined with some of my best friends.

    I learned a lot of hard science from sci fi, for those who turn up their noses at it, enough to enable me to do some leading edge work in aerospace & tech fields. Every few years I reread John Brunner’s The Shockwave Rider, simply because it was so precient. Written in 1980, he predicted accurately not only the Internet, but also interactive games, blogs, AI, viruses, trojans, Denial of Access attacks, the complete loss of privacy via electronic records, the abuse of the economic system via electronic info, & much more. Like having a cheat sheet for the future.

    Mythology still influences me today as cautionary tales of hubris, tragedy, hope, love. I can’t forget The Giving Tree. A Wrinkle in Time (L’Engle) is still all about courage when hope seems lost and standing against blind, crushing conformity. Charlie Brown, about self esteem, and Dolittle, about caring dignity, love of adventure and nonconformity.

  15. LAZiege

    one of the things that i love about having a child is the chance to introduce her to the books i loved and reading them in advance tomake sure they are worth it! i loved laura ingalls wilder, boxcar children, betsy-tacy, lloyd alexander, pippi longstocking, and mary poppins as i am thrilled to see that others on this list did. i just saw there’s a betsy-tacy society…

    i also loved books where ghosts mix with people, the half magic books, Green Knowe books, and esp. the young adult books by Ruth M. Arthur. They took me into so many worlds.

    my daughter has reintroduced me to Dr. Seuss and introduced me to the Moomins.