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Who The Wild Things Are

Philip Glassborow explores the origins of Maurice Sendak's top-selling children’s book ‘Where the Wild Things Are’. From 2008.

What is Maurice Sendak's classic children's book "Where the Wild Things Are" all about?

Philip Glassborow talks with Sendak's British editor, Judy Taylor, to his long-time friend, the distinguished writer and playwright Tony Kushner and to the American children's literature expert Leonard Marcus, who takes him back to the haunts of Sendak's American childhood in Brooklyn.

He is astonished to discover that in all the extensive press, radio and TV coverage of Sendak, nobody has ever thought to consult any children.

Every great children's book, has a world beyond its creator and here the Year 2 children of an Oxfordshire primary school have their say. Angry mothers and fathers with big hairy feet both feature in their interpretations of who the Wild Things really are.

With a reading by Henry Goodman and extensive use of Jewish Klezmer music, this programme will shed new light on who the Wild Things really are and act as a fitting legacy to the late, great master.

Producer Beaty Rubens

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2008.

30 minutes

Last on

Sat 30 Nov 202400:30
BBC Radio 4 Extra

Broadcasts

  • Tue 24 Jun 200811:30
    BBC Radio 4
  • Sat 3 Oct 200910:30
    BBC Radio 4
  • Thu 14 Jun 201211:30
    BBC Radio 4
  • Mon 27 Mar 201706:30
    BBC Radio 4 Extra
  • Mon 27 Mar 201713:30
    BBC Radio 4 Extra
  • Mon 27 Mar 201720:30
    BBC Radio 4 Extra
  • Tue 28 Mar 201701:30
    BBC Radio 4 Extra
  • Fri 29 Nov 202410:30
    BBC Radio 4 Extra
  • Fri 29 Nov 202416:30
    BBC Radio 4 Extra
  • Sat 30 Nov 202400:30
    BBC Radio 4 Extra