Michelle Obama Narrates Audiobook Version of a Beloved (But Controversial) Children’s Classic

Parents are about to get a bedtime story assist from our Forever First Lady. HarperCollins Publishers announced today that Michelle Obama will narrate a new digital audio edition of Maurice Sendak’s award-winning children’s book, “Where the Wild Things Are.” The audio download will be available for purchase on October 31 in honor of the 60th anniversary of the book’s original release.

Written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak, “Where the Wild Things Are” tells the story of a young boy who throws a tantrum and is sent to his room without dinner by his mother. While there, he sails away to a land of wild things who make him their king. But it doesn’t take long for the boy to realize how much he misses his mom. So he makes his way home, where his dinner (and his mom) are waiting for him.

Sendak’s inspiration for the story came from his own childhood in Brooklyn, New York. Growing up, he says he was often sent to bed without dinner because he hated his mother’s cooking.

Although the book won the prestigious Caldecott Medal for Best Picture Book in 1964, sold over 20 million copies worldwide since its release and was adapted into a motion picture, it almost never saw the light of day. Editors worried that a story about an uprising would be a little too much for young readers. But it was adults who really had the problem. The book has been a constant target of book bans and challenges for being “too dark.”

In 1969, child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim wrote in Ladies’ Home Journal, “What [Sendak] failed to understand is the incredible fear it evokes in the child to be sent to bed without supper, and this by the first and foremost giver of food and security—his mother.”

Despite the controversy, “Where the Wild Things Are” is a favorite of the Obamas. The former First Couple read from the book to children at an Easter event on the South Lawn of the White House in 2016. And the Sendak estate has already given Mrs. Obama’s narration their stamp of approval.

“Maurice Sendak would have been absolutely delighted with Mrs. Obama’s superb rendition of ‘Where the Wild Things Are,’ and her strong commitment to children is much admired by us all in the Sendak household,” said Lynn Caponera, President and Treasurer of the Maurice Sendak Foundation in a statement shared with The Root. “You’ll want to eat up the new audio edition of this timeless classic on its 60th birthday!”