We recently picked up Making Mischief (a Maurice Sendak appreciation) by Gregory Maguire (Wicked author), and highly recommend it.  Maguire provides a much better appreciation of Sendak with his fine prose and analysis/juxtaposition of Sendak’s biography and aesthetic influences.   Maguire ably endows the book with side-by-side comparisons of Sendak’s art to contrasting and sometimes surprising influences (varying from comic illustrators, to William Blake to Winslow Homer), all of which is summed up by Maguire’s reference to “Sendak’s license to borrow.”  And who hasn’t borrowed?

Throughout Making Mischief Maguire affords great insight into the mind, upbringing, aptitudes and appetites of Sendak.  After all, Sendak was born in 1928 and so grew up and came to maturity during the difficult post-World War I, Depression and World War II eras.  Some of the zeitgeist of those eras naturally entailed darkness, which is seen aplenty in Sendak’s early art in particular, but relief from the gloom was plentifully afforded by Sendak.  For example, Sendak’s art was often leavened with the levity of comic silent films of that era (as can be seen in Sendak’s adoption of Oliver Hardy-like characters in some of his art) along with other cartoon/comic influences (comic artist Winsor McCay and Bugs Bunny’s Chuck Jones, for example).  Maguire also exhibits well Sendak’s escape from the difficulties of childhood.

Maguire is at his best describing and showing Sendak’s disparate styles, media and subjects, many of which we had not seen before.  Amongst our favorites are Sendak’s line drawings, such as “Jennie” below.

Highly recommended for all, but particularly for anyone who has read Sendak’s charming and beguiling books or read them to kids.

And it was still hot.