The Happy Rain

Jack Sendak began writing at a very early age, collaborating with his brother Maurice in writing, illustrating, and binding their own story books, which they then lent out to family and friends. His love for books grew out of the bedtime foltakes his father, Philip, told every evening. Reviewers called Jack Sendak’s books humorous, magical, and mysterious.

Maurice Sendak was born June 10, 1928, in Brooklyn, NY. He received the 1964 Caldecott Medal for Where the Wild Things Are. In 1970 he received the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal for illustration, and he remains the only American ever awarded this honor. In 1983, Sendak received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award from the American Library Association, given in recognition of his entire body of work. He also received a 1996 National Medal of Arts in recognition of his contribution of arts in America. He illustrated over 80 books. He died May 8, 2012.