Eden Chambers, a British children's writer and theorist and winner of the 2002 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writers, once said of Sandak's "Where the Beast Lives" (also translated as "The Land of the Beast") that modern picture books have come of age because of this book. Aiden Chambers is a well-known children's writer in the contemporary British literary scene, and his works reflect his deep understanding of the subtle mentality of adolescent adolescence, which has caused great repercussions among readers, especially young readers, and is regarded as the voice of the thoughts and emotions of the younger generation.
Beast Country is a classic masterpiece by picture book master Maurice Sandak. In 1964, "Beast Country" won the Caldecott Gold Award. Peter Hunter said in Children's Literature that this book is one of the most successful picture books of the twentieth century.
Beast Land tells the story of Mikes, a mischievous boy who has a big fight with his mother and is locked in his room without dinner. Like Odysseus alone, Max set sail at once: waves brought him a small boat, which he set out in the night, and after day, week after week, and almost a whole year, he finally came to the land of the beast. There, Max took command of the raging beasts, and after a lot of madness, he began to miss those who loved him the most, and finally he gave up the throne of the king of the beast kingdom and returned to his loved ones, and his anger was gone, and he found that dinner was there.
Beast Country has been hailed as "the first picture book in the United States to recognize that children have strong emotions". In this book, Maurice Sandak uses the word wild things, which should be "wild things" if the literal translation should be "wild things", as an image, which nakedly expresses the strong emotions of Max's inner world, which is the sublimation of anger. "Beast Country" is a landmark picture book in the field of children's book creation, even in the Western world, where the field of psychology is relatively studied, it is also a children's work that introduces the concept of child psychology and confronts children's negative psychological problems. Mr. Sandak divides the child's world into two one-to-one real worlds and psychological worlds, and when the child's negative emotions appear, they will enter the self-created psychological world, that is, the "beast country" surrounded by beasts in the book, just like the original name of the book"where the wild things are", it would be wild and primitive. "Beast Country" shows the primitive and savage side of children, but also guides children positively, and the protagonist "Max" finally decides to return to the real world after overcoming negative emotions.
"Beast Country" is not just a simple adventure story, it guides children to deal with negative emotions and guides parents how to deal with this situation, so the person who loves him "The end of the things around Mike returns" but also a question arises: If Mike didn't feel his mother's love in time, would he choose to stay in Beastland?Perhaps Mr. Sandak also wants to tell parents through "Beast Country": You have to let your child know that on the other side of Beast Country, there are people who love him waiting for him behind the door.
Maurice Sandak is a well-known children's literature and picture book writer and illustrator. He is an eight-time winner of the Caldecott Medal, the highest honor for picture books in the United States. He was also the first American to win the Hans Christian Andersen Award. He is known as the "Picasso of children's books". Maurice Sendak was an important children's picture book artist of the twentieth century and is considered "the great writer of picture books since the creation of the world". Sandak pulls children's picture books out of the sterile room where ugliness is not revealed, and hits the dark beauty that haunts the depths of the human soul.
Home of the Beast is a children's film based on the picture book Land of the Beast, directed by Spike Jones. "Beast Home" is a pure children's film, which not only entertains children, but also nurtures a deeper layer of thought. The benefit of the film to children is to realize a fantasy about the king, and for adults, this benefit is a coordinate about education. It is Max who is self-reflective in the film, and it is the adults who need to reflect after watching the movie.