d dozens of other books, including Else Minarik’s Little Bear series. Sendak won many awards over the span of his career. He is the first American to receive the Hans Christian Andersen International Medal (for body of work). He has also won the National Medal of Arts, Caldecott Award, American Library Association’s Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, and the Jewish Cultural Achievement Award in Visual Arts.Sendak is also a strong speaker on children’s personal rights. He is a tireless advocate and has become increasingly more interested in producing quality film and theater for children. He has even started his own children’s theater company, “The Night Kitchen,” in order to produce quality programs. Sendak has said that the emphasis of his books is to teach children how to cope with difficult problems that they must deal with and how to be heroic in an adult world. Sendak’s special interest is to get kids and parents to read together. This, he believes, is the best way for kids to learn to love reading, and more importantly, share magical times with their parents."Perhaps no one has done as much to show the power of the written word on children, not to mention on their parents, as Maurice Sendak." -President Clinton, January 9,1997....
