Once a little boy sent me a charming card with a little
drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children’s
letters — sometimes very hastily — but this one I lingered
over. I sent him a card and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing
on it. I wrote, “Dear Jim: I loved your card.” Then I got a
letter back from his mother and she said, “Jim loved your
card so much he ate it.” That to me was one of the highest
compliments I’ve ever received. He didn’t care that it was
an original Maurice Sendak drawing or anything. He saw it,
he loved it, he ate it.
Maurice Sendak
