Earlier this year, A.J. Abraham got a tattoo on his ribs, depicting a scene from the book, ‘Where the Wild Things Are.’ When he told the tattoo artist, he said had given someone else a tattoo from the book some years earlier. At first Abraham was a little offended, but then realized someone else, perhaps decades ago, thought it was special enough to have on his body forever, he said.

‘It took me back to when I was a kid and reminds me of the simple times,’ said Abraham, whose parents read the book to him. Abraham said his family is not as close as it once was and the book reminds him of the times when it was.

Abraham, a junior majoring in communications and rhetorical studies said it’s one of those books that he would pick up again and again when he saw it on the shelf.

‘I’m not the only person the book has affected – that’s not something you can say too often,’ Abraham said.

‘Where the Wild Things Are,’ a Caldecott-winning children’s picture book written and illustrated in 1963 by Maurice Sendak, recently joined the list of children’s books adapted for the big screen. Now over 45 years old, the film adaptation topped the box office during its opening weekend, reminding college students of their love for the book.

The plot centers around a 6-year-old boy whose imagination takes him on a boat to a fantasy land where beasts rule.

The book appeals to college students, particularly undergraduates, because they can identify with Max in a way they were not able to as young children, said Heidi Beverine-Curry, a doctoral student in her final year of the reading education program who teaches a class on children’s literature at Syracuse University.

‘When students move away from home and make the transition to college life, it often signals the start of their ‘wild rumpus’ on a larger scale,’ said Beverine-Curry. ‘Also, they often struggle with their shift to a position of relative independence and power, and they want to know that they can still go home be taken care of, like Max at the end of the book.’

Some think that the book’s popularity is widespread because many people can identify with Max’s feelings of wanting to escape from his life for a little while.

‘I think everyone can relate. Everyone has that experience as a child – you’re frustrated with your surroundings, so you go in your own little place in your head,’ said Meghan Grube, a senior computer art major. It was Grube’s grandmother’s favorite children’s book, and she read it to Grube and her brother when they were younger.

‘I think it continues to be popular because it is a book that was present in the childhood of many Americans, and as we grow we like to revisit stories we connected with emotionally as children, and share them with other children,’ Beverine-Curry said.

Beverine-Curry said the story is simple on the surface but has powerful words and images that may be interpreted in different ways.

‘Since I’m an art major, I really appreciate the illustrations,’ said Johanna Smith, a junior majoring in industrial design, who read it with her mother growing up. ‘I’ve revisited it while studying art. The illustrations have really awesome line quality.’

Grube, who saw the film with another SU student, said she enjoyed the visuals in Spike Jonze film adaptation of the book. ‘It was really beautiful to look at,’ she said.

Beverine-Curry took her son to see the film the night it was released in theaters.

‘Usually when I hear that a children’s book is being made into a movie, I get a little sad because a part of me believes that once the movie is made, fewer children will actually read the book and have the experience of constructing their own visions of the story,’ she said. ‘I was very impressed with the movie, as it never strayed from Max’s perspective…The wild things themselves are true to Sendak’s vision, and this movie is absolutely beautiful to look at.’

Abraham also felt that the movie stayed true to his childhood visions of what the book would look like.

‘It was unbelievable – I loved it,’ Abraham said of the film, adding that it did a good job conveying the book’s message.

‘It represents something that we all had – our youth. A lot of older people have already lost that childhood sense of self and I think college students are still aware of it,’ Abraham said. ‘There’s a wild thing in all of us.’

kjmarren@syr.edu

Published on October 20, 2009 at 12:00 pm