When people ask me about my influences, one of the names I always forget is Maurice Sendak. Sendak, who turns 80 today, and his seminal work Where the Wild Things Are, if not created my love for monsters, certainly fostered it. The tale of childhood rebellion and unconditional love fed directly into my childhood psyche and reality. My mother always encouraged me to debate, to wonder, to question. All the while, I knew she would always love me. When I began writing, the fact that my family would always love and respect me lent me the confidence to write what I felt and believed, regardless of what others thought. And of course monsters have always been a huge part of my creative reality.

Over time I read the vast majority of Sendak’s works but nothing stuck like Wild Things and for Halloween 1997, I was Max. You really have to love a children’s book to dress as the main character when you are thirty.

Thank, Mr. Sendak, for everything and a happy 80th birthday!