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Maurice Sendak’s new book ‘Bumble-Ardy’

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Maurice Sendak, possibly the greatest children’s book author of all time (he’s definitely in my top 5), has written and illustrated his first new book in 30 years. It’s called ‘Bumble-Ardy’ and will be published by HarperCollins this fall. The book tells the story of a young pig who has never had a birthday party, so on his ninth birthday he takes matters into his own hands and invites nine pigs over for a forbidden party.

The story is based on a character Sendak first developed for a ‘Sesame Street’ short produced by Jim Henson in 1971. In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal Sendak explains why the character of Bumble-Ardy stuck with him for more than 30 years. ‘He was funny. He was robust. He was sly. He was a sneak. He was all the things I like,’ he said.

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Sendak won the Caldecott Metal in 1964 for his most famous book, ‘Where the Wild Things Are.’ He’s 82 now, and my current favorite of his books is ‘In the Night Kitchen’ (1970). Like the best Sendak books, it’s super weird, borderline creepy and awesome. Here’s hoping that ‘Bumble-Ardy’ unnerves audiences in a similar way.

-- Deborah Netburn

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