Commentary
With the blessing of Maurice Sendak, writer Dave Eggers (A HEARTBREAKING WORK OF STAGGERING GENIUS) and director Spike Jonze (BEING JOHN MALKOVICH) have transformed the beloved children's book WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE into a feature film. Now Eggers has taken the metamorphic process even further, writing a novelization of the film. The result, THE WILD THINGS, continues to expand on the timeless story of a boy, Max, who run away from home to become the king of the Wild Things. The novel, like the film, delves deeper into the roots of Max's antipathy, and the nature of his fantastic friendship with the Wild Things, but at heart all three (book, film, and book) are brilliantly imagined metaphors for the hurt and rage and love and longing within a child's heart.

Reviews
"THE WILD THINGS is easily the best book ever adapted from a movie that was adapted from a picture book--but it also succeeds in its own right. Dave Eggers has written a novel that is deeply imaginative, slightly strange, occasionally dark, and ultimately touching."

Matt Compton

"The real question, when it comes to literature, is whether a particular author is interested in hustling us through a breakneck plot...investigating the internal lives of his or her creations. The best books - and I happily include THE WILD THINGS on this list - manage to do both....Eggers has written a book for readers of all ages, without dumbing down his prose. But his highest achievement is in having found a fresh way to tell us a story we already know so well, about the monstrous forces of love and hate that mark every childhood--and pursue us howling into adulthood."

Steve Almond

"[W]here Sendak created a poetic blend of words and pictures to depict typical childhood impulses, fears and desires, Eggers has crimped these universals, reducing them to the upswellings of confusion and rage felt by an 8- or 9-year-old after his parents' divorce.....[but o]nce on monster island, the book grows more charming and witty.....THE WILD THINGS is intermittently amusing but far more conventional than it should be. Eight- to 12-year-olds will like the book, but older readers -- those 'children of all ages' -- won't be starting a wild rumpus over it."

Michael Dirda

"Eggers's story very quickly charms and disarms the reader, even one wary about the notion of enlarging on Sendak's simple fable....THE WILD THINGS does not have to be read alongside Sendak, nor [Spike] Jonze's memorable film: the novel has its own rhythms and integrity, as it takes Max on his colorful, complicated journey back to the possibility of forgiveness, even redemption."

Sylvia Brownrigg