"Terry Gross : Can you share some of your favorite comments from readers that you've gotten over the years?

Maurice Sendak : Oh, there's so many. Can I give you just one that I really like? It was from a little boy. He sent me a charming letter with a little drawing. I loved it. I answer all my children's letters - sometimes very hastily - but this one I lingered over. I sent him a postcard and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, "Dear Jim, I loved your card." Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said, "Jim loved your card so much he ate it." That to me was one of the highest compliments I've ever received. He didn't care that it was an original drawing or anything. He saw it, he loved it, he ate it."