Where the Wild Things Are: The greatest children's book ever - BBC Culture

Of course, far from only appealing to children, after initially sending shockwaves around the literary establishment, over the decades the book has beguiled almost everyone who has encountered it, young and old, from world leaders to film directors. It has inspired films, songs, books, an opera and even a spoof on The Simpsons. For this poll, children's authors and experts from Singapore and Iceland to Portugal and Peru voted for it in their droves, with one respondent, Pam Dix, chair of the UK section of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), calling it "a perfect, multi-layered picture book that reveals new dimensions on each reading". Most importantly though, it has indeed captivated generations of children thirsty for mischief, mastery and a cracking wild rumpus.