#5 in Picture books
Where the Wild Things Are
- 42
- Pages
- about 1 h
- Reading time
- Film 2009 +1
- On screen
- Caldecott Medal
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Our view
“Where the Wild Things Are” tells its story mostly in pictures: a handful of sentences and Sendak’s own illustrations of Max and his wild things. It is made for reading aloud to small children, with time to look, and it carries a real sense of adventure. Some readers note that the images can unsettle a child, and some who come to it first as adults enjoy it less.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Where the Wild Things Are is a 1963 children's picture book written and illustrated by American author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, originally published in hardcover by Harper & Row. The book has been adapted into other media several times, including an animated short film in 1973 ; a 1980 opera; and a live-action 2009 feature-film adaptation. The book had sold over 19 million copies worldwide as of 2009, with 10 million of those being in the United States.
On screen
This book has been adapted for the screen 2 times — from 1973 to 2009.
Adaptation data: Wikidata · On screen →
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.4 across 920 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 86% of the weight and the score stays at 8.3 — the Picture books average of 8.3 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.3 | 109 | 12% |
| Hardcover | 8.4 | 811 | 88% |
Frequently asked
What age is Where the Wild Things Are for?
Where the Wild Things Are sits on the Children shelf in the sources we use, which by convention means roughly ages 5–10. This is a guide from the book’s category, not a publisher’s age rating. It has 42 pages — shorter than 100% of the ranked books in Picture books.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Picture books — with scores between 8.1 and 8.4, closest to this book.
