1. Children’s Monsters: An Introduction

2. Your group has 2 minutes to come up with a working definition for
Please take out your monster card
Find a group of 4-5
In your group, share your monster card. Describe what you drew, what name/adjective you assigned your monster, what inspired you.
Your group has 2 minutes to come up with a working definition for
MONSTER
use the adjectives & images you brought with you to help with this
FEAR
*NO CELL PHONES! Come up with your own definition…

3. an imaginary creature that is typically large, ugly, and frightening
MONSTER
an imaginary creature that is typically large, ugly, and frightening

4. FEAR
an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat

5. How it all began…
Do you remember the first time you heard the word ‘monster’?
Do you remember what your childhood monsters were?
Where did they live/hide? (Outside? Inside?)
What did they look like? (fuzzy, hard, soft, claws?)

6. If no one tells us to be afraid of monsters, where do these ideas come from?
Why monsters??

7. Birth-2 years Separation Anxiety
Too young to process the idea of a ‘monster’ beyond the physical grossness
Crying, running away, nightmares

8. 2-6 years old
Begin to understand representations through words and pictures
This is when they begin to envision monster from their own imaginations
They begin to fear the dark, animals, and the supernatural
Introduction to death
Children begin to identify with monsters when they misbehave (‘that child is monstrous’)

9. Can you think of examples of this type of labeling?
Hansel & Gretel
Many, many of the original Grimm’s tales
Alice in Wonderland

10. Taming the children’s monster
Disney, PBS, making monsters friendly & happy

11. Ages 6-12
Fear of frightening appearances fades, able to face more grotesque images
Begin to experience the ‘fun’ of horror
Toys allow children to play with and challenge their fears
Ages 9-12 the fear of personal injury
grows, as well as death of family

12. Teenage years What do our monsters transform to at this point?
Young adults begin to think theoretically, abstractly, logically
Their fears are therefore abstract: social, political, psychological, economic

13. Where The Wild Things Are

15. Discussion Questions…
What is this story about? (actually?)
How does Sendak convey these ideas?
(Think both about his words and his illustrations, as well as literary devices like characterization, symbolism, etc.)
Does the child in this story have real power, or not? Why or why not?
What do you think the ‘wild rumpus’ is?
What is Sendak’s central message here, do you think? What is he employing these monsters to say?

16. Where the Wild Things Are
Published 1963
Significance of ‘things’ (over, for example, horses)
Duality of realism vs. fantasy
The power of suggestion
Framing of the book
Equating language with art and the unnamable felt experience of fantasy & dreams
Symbolism of art & words
A safe space within which to confront one’s demons
RAGE & ANGER

18. Maurice Sendak
Not interested in writing stories of “sunshine & rainbows” – that was not his experience in life
‘Things’ inspired by his immigrant relatives and how he viewed them as a child
“They were unkempt; their teeth were horrifying. Hair unraveling out of their noses.”
Affected by the Lindbergh baby kidnapping
“When the Lindbergh baby was found dead I think something really fundamental died in me”

19. Wild Things: Film Adaptation
Spike Jonze, Dave Eggers
What do we do when watching film?

20. Wild Things Writing Assignment
Due Monday, February 4 before class starts
Turnitin.com & hard copy in class
Prompts + rubric are on my website