Oh I know. It's a sad loss, but what a great legacy he left. In The Night Kitchen is my favorite Sendak book.

You can see many of his original illustrations at The Rosenbach Museum and Library in center city Philadelphia. What a treasure.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rosenbach

I also sighed a sad sigh and thought "Happy once, happy twice, happy chicken soup with rice." It was one of Ashley's favorites.

Annie

Aw, Mom. That's sweet and sad.

I still have the tiny books with "Chicken Soup with Rice", "Alligators All Around", "Pierre, A Cautionary Tale" and "One was Johnny" which I was given when I was five or six. I used to read them to a child I babysat so often I had them all memorised and could just rattle them off while turning the pages and reading my own book at the same time :-) DD also loved them. I still quote them from time to time when something reminds me of them...

My son's favorite book ever was Where the Wild Things Are. I had it memorized. He was disappointed that the movie didn't represent the book in the way he thought. Hated the movie. Thank you Mr. Sendak for great memories!

All my favorites too! Where the Wild Things Are the most! I never realized that the monsters were somewhat parodies of his family! At least that's what he told Teri Gross in one interview I heard! He does resemble that one monster! I always loved Max's journey there and most importantly--back home! But I also had the small boxed set of his other tomes like Chicken Soup with Rice and Alligators all Around, and I Don't Care Pierre! Never got into the Night Kitchen, I was too old by that time.

Farewell to a great artist!!