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Elementary school named after 'Where the Wild Things Are' author

A new elementary school in Brooklyn is honoring a children's literature legend and one of its own by naming the school after famed author and illustrator Maurice Sendak. P.S. 118 will open this fall and has announced that it will be called the Maurice Sendak Community School, according to the P.S. 118 "Founding Families'' group that is working with principal Elizabeth Garraway. Sendak, who died a
An elementary school in Brooklyn has been named after the late Maurice Sendak, a native of the borough and famed author and illustrator of
An elementary school in Brooklyn has been named after the late Maurice Sendak, a native of the borough and famed author and illustrator ofSpencer Platt / Getty Images file

A new elementary school in Brooklyn is honoring a children's literature legend and one of its own by naming the school after famed author and illustrator Maurice Sendak. 

P.S. 118 will open this fall and has announced that it will be called the Maurice Sendak Community School, according to the P.S. 118 "Founding Families'' group that is working with principal Elizabeth Garraway. Sendak, who died at 83 in May of last year, is most well-known for lushly illustrated works involving children, monsters and other dreamlike creations featured in works like "Where the Wild Things Are," 'In the Night Kitchen," and "The Nutshell Library.'' 

"We want to be a place where kids are flexible thinkers and they step outside of the box, and Maurice Sendak was known for his creativity," Garraway told DNAInfo

"We are thrilled to honor a great Brooklyn native and in doing so, we hope to inspire our children to find their own creative expression,'' the Founding Families group wrote. 

This school, which will feature a multicultural curriculum, is the first in New York City to be named after Sendak, who was born in Brooklyn and lived in Connecticut at the time of his death. In 2005, a school in North Hollywood, Calif., became the first school in the country to be named after Sendak. No New York school would have even been allowed to be named after Sendak until now because New York schools can only be named after people who have died, according to the New York City Department of Education

Sendak did not have any children of his own, but once said in his acceptance speech for winning the prestigious Caldecott Award in 1964, "It is through fantasy that children achieve catharsis. It is the best means they have for taming Wild Things."

Read more:

Remembering Maurice Sendak

‘Where the Wild Things Are’ author Maurice Sendak dead at age 83

Sendak's work lived 'Wild' life in movies, TV

‘Wild Things’ author isn’t wild about Hollywood