My take on recent comments by “Where The Wild Things Are” author and illustrator, Maurice Sendak.

Max from "Where the Wid Things Are" by Maurice Sendak

Maurice Sendak’s Max from his classic “Where The Wild Things Are” was definitely an early inspiration for my character Lilith Dark. There are a lot of very sweet kid’s books out there these days. I think kids need a little adventure! A little excitement! We shouldn’t try to filter life. It’s scary, bad things happen. I’m not suggesting kid’s books should be rated R, but they could stand to have a little more “teeth” than many do now. That’s one of the things I try to do with Lilith Dark. Give kids a little excitement, in a safe way. Yes some of the themes and pages are a little scary, but they’re that way by design. Books like Berenstein Bears will always have a place, because they are great, but make room for the spooky stories too!

Sendak has some interesting thoughts on this as well. Go read them.