For many years I had forgotten about this book.  And then some years back I had a dream.  In that dream my bedposts turned into trees, and as I climbed out I found myself in a dark forest with grass underfoot and moonlight creeping through the leaves high above me. 

I awoke the next morning with a vivid feeling that I had been in that forest before, that it was more familiar to me than my own room.  But I could not place the memory for a very long time. 

Where the Wild Things Are is a tiny story, only a few pages long with fewer words on each page, but it is a powerful gateway to what it is to be a child.  It would take me more words to explain the story to you here than it would for you to see it yourself, so here is a video of the book being read as it was meant to be read.

What does that evoke in you?  Have you ever heard of Where the Wild Things Are before?

When I see even just an image of Max it sends me back to the place where “Let the Wild Rumpus Start!” is the beginning of a grand-adventure-pillow-fight full of mythical creatures and fantastical discoveries.  It dives deep into the core of my adventure spirit and awakens the inner friendly, fun-loving, furry monster, who wants to roar because roaring is FUN! And wants to run through the forest and swing from trees because that’s what monster DO!  And we do it because it is what life is about, what makes us so ALIVE!

There is a movie coming out on Oct 16th 2009 that is based on the book Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak 1963.  Here are two awesome trailers. *Movie Trailer 1*  *Movie Trailer 2* Both trailers awaken my monster adventure spirit the same way the original book did.  I am excited and proud that a movie is being made that uses the best media of today to gently touch the adventurer inside children the way Maurice’s book did me many years ago. (trailer 1 is shown below because it’s awesome)

In an interview with the author he explains that the book has almost been a movie many times, but no one has really felt what he wanted with the book the way Spike Jonze (the 2009 director) (blog) does.  Maurice is helping produce the film as well.  This is great because it means the movie will attempt to do justice to such a wonderful book rather than butchering it for the big screen they way others have.  An interesting side note I must point out, WTWTA is a feature length film being made from a book that takes 5 mintutes to read!  I’m excited to see what Maurice Sendak and Spike Jonze extrapolate this into.

I’m sure that many of the adventures and explorations I write about in this blog are deeply rooted in my childhood, which was influenced by Where The Wild Things Are in ways I am still discovering. 

I urge you all to look inside at what influenced your childhood, and how in turn that influenced who you are now.  There are valuable things we should never leave behind, and if you’re like me, than every once in awhile yell “LET THE WILD RUMPUS BEGIN!” and see what happens.

As an interesting side note, check out this inspiring video of Obama reading Where the Wild Things Are to some highly entertained children.  I love the fact that this book inspires him as well.  He gains some points in my book because of that.  Now if we could just get him in a highline!