The Wild Things by Dave Eggers

The Wild Things is perhaps a 300-page masterpiece that matches the 9-sentence version Maurice Sendak wrote so many years ago. Of course, it all depends if you're willing to think as a child again when you read it. Dave Eggers helps the reader do so with the wonderfully conflicted Max, all dangerously mischievous and spiteful boy, full of vim and vigor. He lives with his divorced mother and teenage sister as a lone cub who's wondering if he's the only one who knows how to truly have fun anymore... or if anyone really gets him or loves him at all.

The novel is based very loosely on the storybook by Maurice Sendak and the screenplay cowritten with Spike Jonze. Funny, dark, and alive, The Wild Things is a timeless and time-tested tale for all ages.