但是 Where the Wild Things Are 改變了這一切，書中白色小魔鬼裝扮的 Max 和媽媽大吵一架，居然對媽媽口出威脅，離家遠遊，這在溫柔乖巧的兒童文學裡可是頭一遭。勇敢的 Max 來到了小島上，面對奇形怪狀、張牙舞爪的怪獸不但不害怕，還直直地瞪著他們，反而嚇壞了怪獸，成了野東西們的大頭目。但是怎麼樣稱王作怪，還是比不過溫暖 的家裡。最後 Max 回到房間後沒有責罰，反而是沒吃的晚餐還熱熱地等著他。
這現在看來是滿滿暖暖的母愛，當時卻認為是不應該的管教問題，差點被列為不適合兒童的讀物。同樣顛覆的是，我們看不到和藹可親，講故事給孩子聽的聖 誕老公公，而是從 Where the Wild Things Are 的緣由聊起，到新的作品，到納粹猶太集中營，到小時候擺脫不去的死亡陰影，到對人生的態度，Bill Moyers 一方面讓 Sendak 侃侃而談，另一方面也不時提出尖銳的問題或意見，變得不僅僅是單純的問與答，Sendak 也對許多問題有新發現而不禁說 "Yeah. You're better than my therapist." 兩人不斷去挖掘、去衝撞心底灰暗的一面，呈現出來的是一位對一生成就滿意卻不滿足，不停探索著終點無限的可能性的藝術家。
My big concern is me and what do I do now until the time of my death. That is valid. That is useful. That is beautiful. That is creative. And also, I want to be free again. I want to be free like when I was a kid ... where we just had fun. ... I want to see me to the end working, living for myself. Ripeness is all.
Sendak 的新作 Brundibar 改編自捷克音樂家 Hans Krasa 於1939所創作的兒童歌劇。在納粹佔領捷克後，在 Terezin 設立了一個樣板集中營，藉以宣傳猶太人遭隔離後還是過好日子的假象，Brundibar 就是當時集中營中猶太兒童四處巡迴演出的劇碼。在宣傳效果達到後，集中營裡包括兒童跟劇作家，也都難逃被屠殺的命運。雖然故事本身跟大屠殺沒有關連， Sendak在書中也不避諱地與小朋友就一些其他的敏感的問題展開對話； "Well, you can't get rid of evil. We can't, and I feel that so intensely." 從成長的幻滅中重獲勇氣，不僅是成長中的小朋友在學習的，就是到了像 Sendak 一般的年紀，也是一樣不斷地在重新挖掘、重新思考。作品本身也跳脫了童書的範疇，從畫面的安排、隱喻，真正展現的是 Sendak 對於大屠殺的思考。
印象最深的是最後 Sendak 借用濟慈的文字來描繪所謂「成熟」的願景：
When I said the ripeness was a letter that John Keats wrote to his brother who emigrated to America describing what it was like to have a peach or piece of a peach in his mouth.And it's one of the sexiest things you will ever read of how slow you should take the peach. Don't rush it. Let it go through your palette. Let it lie on your tongue. Let it melt a little bit. Let it run from the corners.
It's like describing the most incredible sex orgy. And then, you bite. But, it must be so ripe. It must be so delicious. In other words, you must not waste a second of this deliciousness which for him was life and being a great poet. That you savor every, everything that happened. I want to get ripe.
舌尖覆滿熟嫩即化的果肉，汁液溢出嘴角，幾近貪婪地享用賦予的一切美好。