Preview of Sendak’s Last Book

My Brother's Book

Maurice Sendak’s final completed book, My Brother’s Book, (HarperCollins) arrives this coming Tuesday. The Vanity Fair Web Site heralds it with a slide show of five non-consecutive spreads, with this annotation:

The author’s beautifully illustrated narrative tells the story of his brother’s journey to the end of life, a deeply personal tale inspired by his brother Jack’s death, in 1995. Written in verse that echoes Shakespeare and William Blake, Sendak’s longing to be reunited with his deceased sibling serves as a suiting good-bye from the beloved Where the Wild Things Are author. As longtime friend Tony Kushner notes in the book’s jacket, “We’ll miss him forever.”

Pre-pub reviews are ecstatic, with Horn Book noting, “As the ultimate not-for-little-children Sendak, this profoundly personal book about loss and healing should find its audience among thoughtful adults (and perhaps some teenagers).”

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