Remembering Maurice Sendak

Over the last several months, I'd been thinking about famed picturebook author Maurice Sendak.

It bagan with the two-part Grim Colberty Tales on the Colbert Report.  I both admired Sendak for how brutally honest he was and feared ever meeting him and falling under his scrutiny.

So, after hearing of his passing, I bought two books in his honor.

The first was his recently published Bumble-Ardy.

It's the rhyming story of a pig named Buble-ardy who has never had a real birthday party.  So, when he goes to live with his Aunt Adeline and turns nine, he decides to have a costume part.

To be honest, I wasn't crazy about this picturebook.  While the rhymes were fun and the illustrations were delightfully old-school, nothing about the story really struck me.

The other book I bought, while not exactly appropriate for children *cough* a page on stripper poles *cough*, did prove to be an enjoyable tribute:

I Am a Pole (and So Can You!) is the book that Stephen Colbert published after his interviews with Sendak.

From the "Caldecott Eligible" sticker on the cover, Sendak's blurb of "The sad thing is, I like it!," an illustration of him to the illustrations that Sendak and Colbert made together prove to be fitting tributes to Sendak's personality.

Goodbye, Mr. Sendak!

You've set the bar high for all who follow!