I loved Maurice Sendak’s book Where the Wild Things Are as a child. It came out when I was five, a perfect age to be when my mum read it to me. I think it is still one of the best books ever written for children. It is moving, funny, scary in places, and ultimately triumphant and happy. The story is helped tremendously by Sendak’s own amazing illustrations. 

The movie version is due out in October 2009. This preview looks great, and if the director and producers have been able to resist the Hollywood temptation to tamper too much with the story, especially either by making the wild things ‘cute’ or by making Max (the hero) into some sort of spoilt adolescent with problems at home, it should be a magical movie.