The Wonderful Farm

Marcel Ayme was one of France's leading humorous writers. He was an insurance broker, bricklayer, journalist, salesman, and then-after 1938-a prolific author. His works are imbued with a sense of the ridiculous, counterbalanced by a satirical eye directed toward all forms of snobbishness or pretension. Ayme's early works were novels including The Green Mare (1933), but during World War II he broadened his range to include the essay and theater. His plays have been hits on the Parisian stage since 1945. His last play La Convention Belzebir (1967), in which permits to kill are sold for large sums, satirizes the absurdities of our world.

In addition to Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak's books include Kenny's Window, Very Far Away, The Sign on Rosie's Door, Nutshell Library (consisting of Chicken Soup with Rice, Alligators All Around, One Was Johnny, and Pierre), Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life, In the Night Kitchen, Outside Over There, We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy, and Bumble-Ardy.

He received the 1964 Caldecott Medal for Where the Wild Things Are; the 1970 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration; the 1983 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, given by the American Library Association in recognition of his entire body of work; and a 1996 National Medal of Arts in recognition of his contribution to the arts in America. In 2003, he received the first Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, an international prize for children's literature established by the Swedish government.