Where the Wild Things Are is a classic children’s book written and illustrated by the late Maurice Sendak. But beyond the wonderful story and artwork, Maurice cleverly designed the visual layout of the book. The artwork grows over time, physically taking up more of the blank space on the pages, enveloping the reader in the main character Max’s imagination.
Note: The story text was removed and the artwork was tinted blue to focus on the imagery and how much space it takes up.
On the first two pages of the book where our story begins, the main character Max is seen building a fort, wearing a monster costume. The image is fairly small, taking up less than half of one of the pages.
A few pages later, when Max is sent to his room without supper, his imagination starts to take over. The images grow larger, and the trees start to break free from the confines of the box.
As Max starts his journey to where the Wild Things are, the artwork spills over to the other page.
When Max arrives at the island of the Wild Things, the artwork now spans both pages. The dream world is taking over.
At the crescendo of the story, Max is fully engulfed in his imagination. He is king of the Wild Things and they revel with Max in their excitement. The artwork completely covers both pages, with no text for explanation. For six pages, fully covered in artwork, the reader is left to simply take in what’s happening visually.
As the story winds down, Max bids farewell to the Wild Things and sails home, back to reality. The artwork also reverses course, taking up less space on the pages.
Max is back home in his normal bedroom. The next and final page simply has one line of text.
The design of this simple children’s book is brilliant in how it gradually pulls the reader into the main character’s imagination. It uses the white space (or lack thereof) to help show the progression of the story and fully draw us into the climax. Below is a video animating the progression of the visuals.
