by Moe Zilla

Created on: February 25, 2010

Maurice Sendak was 65 when he published a book about homeless children called "We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy". The book's jacket explains that Sendak "ingeniously joined" two forgotten Mother Goose rhymes, and "interpreted" them to produce his own story. It's a trick Sendak used 28 years earlier, when he illustrated "Hector Protector and As I Went Over the Water" in 1965. But this story is even more surreal and disturbing - which makes its happy ending even more rewarding.

The title page shows a frowning moon and some simple cut-out stars over a cluster of homeless children. One sleeps in a barrel, and another curls under a board that's held up by sticks. There's legs sticking out of a box and a girl in a hammock with a cat, while the title appears over a simple tent.  At the edge of the picture a poor black boy - wearing nothing but a loin cloth - says "Help" in small letters, while two children walk by…labeled Jack and Guy.

They're dressed in torn pants, but they're both wearing jackets and hats. "Beat it," Jack says, as the black child asks him again for help - and the moon looks down with a scowl. But then the nursery rhyme provides some action, used as dialogue for the children. "Look what they did! Look what they did! The rats stole the kittens and the poor little kid."

Sure enough, two giant rats - dressed in white robes - flee with a sack full of cats, and carrying the black child under one arm. "Rascal!" calls Guy. "Thief!" calls Jack. And the rat replies "Let's play bridge."

"Let's play for the kittens and the poor little kid."

Unfortunately, the rats win - then scurry off with the child still clutched in their arms. But "The moon's in a fit," the rhyme continues - and in Sendak's illustration, it scoops up Jack and Guy, then tosses them after the rats. By the end of the book Jack and Guy have teamed up with a giant white cat - which also turns out to be the moon. They rescue the child, and then adopt him - and care for him back at the homeless camp.

The fun of the book comes from its illustrations which can be both scary and magical. (In one drawing, the boys ride on the back of the moon, passing disinterested angels reading newspapers.) And when the nursery rhyme has Jack saying "Let's knock him on the head," Sendak gladly contributes an appropriate illustration. It's a wildly unpredictable mix of monsters and mayhem - all conveyed with colorful children's book illustrations. There's giant rats and a giant cat - but it's ultimately strange and mysterious fun.

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