I just – via Speak Quietly – found out that Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are is being made into a movie, due to come out in 2009. That’s really cool. It was one of my favorite books when I was little, and I still have a copy of it.
All sorts of memories are associated with this book in my head. I did my undergrad in Seattle, and frequently walked along the canal from the back side of Queen Anne into Fremont. At the foot of the Fremont bridge (which is itself very pleasant to look at and deserves to have its picture posted), someone had drawn Max, the boy from Sendak’s book, in his little boat:
While checking info about the upcoming movie at IMDb, I discovered an animated version had been made in 1973. So I searched the university library catalog – they DO have a copy, but unfortunately it’s on VHS, which is completely useless to me. I need a magic wand that zaps VHSs and turns them into DVDs. Or, even better, straight to AVI files. Must look into that.
But the story continues! Searching the catalog, I see – and my mouth drops open at this point – an OPERA listed! Apparently in the early 80s, British composer Oliver Knussen MADE WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE INTO AN OPERA. I have got to get my hands on that. I mean, how many children’s books have been made into operas?
