Beautiful Book #17

Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life. By Maurice Sendak. Harper & Row, 1967.

This is quite simply one of my favourite books ever. It has it all: nonsense! theatre! sandwiches! a giant baby! a lion! one the hungriest, most sincere quest heroines of all time! When I was interviewed for my job as curator back in 2002, I used this book in an elaborate metaphorical answer to the question of "Why should you have this job?" -- Because, of course, I wanted to be the leading lady in the World Mother Goose Theatre Company. And here I am fourteen years later, living in the Castle Yonder and happy as a dog with a salami mop.

The book is small with sepia and white line drawings, and it is not nearly as elaborate or well-known as many of Sendak's other titles but I think it perfect and I hope you agree.