Literary Criticism

1. How does Max's attitude change in the story from beginning to end? How do you know?
Use evidence from the words in the text and illustrations including Max's facial
expressions to support your thinking.
The first face Max makes is one of determination. This happened when he was pinning
up what seems to be knotted fabric of some kind(page 2). As the story progresses, he
becomes happy while chasing a dog(page 4), and angry when he is sent to his room
without supper(page 6). For the rest of the book, Max would look happy, until page 17
when he arrives at the place where the wild things are, at which point he looks mad until
he becomes the king of the wild things. Max ends the story sad, until he gets back home
to his supper where he looks happy. Max’s attitude changes from wanting to be rowdy
and cause mischief to being a lot more calm after having spent all his energy, as he
realizes that he didn’t want to be a wild thing, but to spend time with who he loved most.
2. At the end of the story, Max takes off his wolf costume. What do you think this means?
Why do you think the author included this event in the story?
Max taking off his wolf costume is a big event within the confines of the story as he has
been wearing it the entire book. When he is in his wolf suit, Max is portrayed as
mischievous and wild. The wolf suit is what allows Max to think of himself as a wild
creature, and the king of the wild ones. Taking off the suit is equivalent to Max allowing
himself to be in the real world and not within his own imagination. The Author most likely
added this in to portray just how he felt as he realized his dinner was in his room.
3. What archetypal journey, linear or circular is represented in the book? What does the
journey represent?
The journey has a circular Archetype. The story of Where the Wild Things Are has a
pretty heavy emphasis on the journey that the main character, Max, goes through.
Journeys have two different categories, according to Kardos,”The journey (in which the
hero leaves home, encounters trials, triumphs over adversity, and either returns home-a
circular journey-or finds a new home-a linear journey),” shows that a circular journey
takes the main character back to their starting point, mostly their home. The story is of a
young boy who wants to let his imagination run wild, and causes mischief. By the end he
realizes that he didn’t want to be king of the forest, but to have fun with the people he
loved, like his mother. This appears to be a coming of age story, but to a much smaller
degree.
4. What is the main idea/theme of the book in terms of the children reading the book?
What evidence from the words and illustrations do you have to support this?
The main idea for the book is that you should never allow your imagination to run too
wild. In the book, he crosses a line that causes his mom to send him to his room without
any supper. He allows himself to presumably dream about a faraway place where he can
do all the wild things he wants, but he is still lonely. This causes him to wake up to the
smell of dinner in his room. He learns by the end of the story that he should not allow his
imagination to control his actions, as shown by him taking off the wolf costume at the
end of the book.
5. We learned that a Caldecott Medal is awarded once each year to the artist of the most
distinguished picture book for children. Caldecott Award winning books must be marked
by excellence in quality and individually distinct. They are also chosen because of the
following: In identifying a “distinguished American picture book for children,” defined as
illustration, committee members need to consider:
1. Excellence of execution in the artistic technique employed;
2. Excellence of pictorial interpretation of story, theme, or concept;
3. Appropriateness of style of illustration to the story, theme or concept;
4. Delineation of plot, theme, characters, setting, mood or information through the

pictures;
5. Excellence of presentation in recognition of a child audience.

Explain why you believe Where the Wild Things Are was chosen as the Caldecott
award winner. Refer to at least two of the criteria above in your answer.
I would say that Where the Wild Things Are was chosen for the Caldecott Award
as it is a really good children’s picture book. I would say that this book has a
great appropriateness of illustration style in relation to the story, theme and
concept. The artstyle is exceptionally wild, just like the story and theme of the
book. I also find that the majority picture format is great for children, especially of
a younger age.

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1. How does Max's attitude change in the story from beginning to end? How do you know?

2. Excellence of pictorial interpretation of story, theme, or concept;

3. Appropriateness of style of illustration to the story, theme or concept;

4. Delineation of plot, theme, characters, setting, mood or information through the

5. Excellence of presentation in recognition of a child audience.

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