Let's be Enemies by Janice May Udry and illustrated by Maurice Sendak

Do you have favorite childhood books? Those books that you just loved to read over and over or books that you think of fondly when you consider your early reading experiences?

For me, Let's be Enemies written by Janice May Udry and illustrated by Maurice Sendak is just one such book. I adore this little treasure! It's a great little story that perfectly tells the tale of friendship among children -- friends today, enemies tomorrow, and friends again the next day. It's about navigating me versus you versus both of us together.

I just adore it.

I also appreciate the simplicity of the tale and the pared down, simple style of Sendak's illustrations. The simple story and the simple illustrations compliment one another perfectly.

I love that this little book and Sendak's illustration style doesn't confine itself to the borders of the page. Sendak was never afraid of the action going off the page, much like Edgar Degas paintings where it often appears that something is happening just outside the frame of the image.

And, the images throughout the book are just plain adorable. Sendak captures emotions and thoughts in the way he illustrates a face or the position of arms or legs. He creates whole characters in each illustration.

 

 

 

I love Maurice Sendak so much that when an exhibit of his work came to the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco several years ago, my son and I jumped at the chance to go! Cameras were not allowed in the exhibit so I don't have pictures, but if you ever have the chance to see Sendak's work, please do go.

A beautiful illustrated talk between Terry Gross from NPR and Maurice Sendak, originally on NPR but illustrated by Cristoph Niemann for The New York Times -- this talk starts with mention of Sendak being an atheist. If you are not an atheist, I hope that won't discourage you from watching and listening as this really is a lovely little video and chat (although a bit sad as well). It is an excerpt from a longer interview on NPR's Fresh Air in an interview titled On Life, Death, and Children's Lit. I love this video and talk:

A second, lovely video -- this one is also illustrated for Blank on Blank on PBS Digital Studios, and it features Maurice Sendak talking about "Being a Kid":

Do you have a favorite Maurice Sendak book or illustration? Please share with a comment!

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