Dawn R. Deem Stephens

Where the Wild Things Are.
Who doesn’t love this book? Max puts on a wolf costume and then “goes wild”.

If for some unknown reason you aren’t familar with this story, let me fill you in. After all, the movie will be out in less than a month, and you should be prepared.

Max puts on a wolf costume and then begins to be so wild that he causes a lot of mischief and gets a tad disobedient in answering his mother. He is sent to bed without dinner. In his room, however, a forest grows and opens to the world around him. He then climbs into a boat and sails across time to where the wild things are. The wild things have terrible eyes, terrible claws, and terrible teeth. They try to scare Max, but he remains completely unscathed. He tames the wild things by starring into their yellow eyes. They then make him the king of all wild things. As king, max gives the order to: “let the rumpus begin!” And the wild things and Max have a “wild” time. Until, Max orders them to stop. Max is lonely for his family and hungry. He smells good things to eat from way across the world. So, “He gives up being king of where the wild things are.” and goes home. When he arrives, his supper is in his room waiting for him.

OK, that’s the story. Without the wonderful pictures it may not seem as exciting. In fact, when reading this book with children, the most fun pages are those in the center of the book that do not have any words at all. They simply depict the wild things and max having a great time causing “rumpus”.

As a teacher, it was always fun to get kids to draw and create their own “wild thing”. They could use the heads of one animal and the body of another. Or simply create a totally new creature from their own imagination. These pictures can make a great class mural.

Now, let’s look at a Biblical truth that we can teach our children using this highly imaginative story. There is the obvious one of Max being respectful and how much his mom loves him and he loves his mom. But, let’s make some comparison here to God and our relationship with Him. Let’s first look at what caused Max to act ‘wild” in the first place. It was the fact that he put on a wolf suit.

The bible mentions “wolves” to illustrate christians among nonchristians in Matt 10:16-”Behold, I send you out as a sheep in the midst of wolves” and Luke 10:3-”behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves”
It also uses the term to warn us against false teachers: Matt 7:15, refers to wolves in sheeps clothing. I think it easy to reverse that thinking in that if a false teacher will disguise himself to be gentle sheep, that Max wanted to disguise himself as a “wild thing”.

Now in the context of make-believe and a child’s imagination, there is no harm in that. After all, our imaginations were given to us by God and we want our children to use them. The concept, however, has a truth to it that we must also examine. The attraction for Max to be wild exists within each of us. We are born with a sin nature and left on our own, will seek the “wild” side of life. And, it begins with what we “put on”.
The greatest part in this story isn’t the fun that Max has being wild, it’s that when he grows tired and hungry, he returns home to find love and acceptance. Matt 11:28 tells us to come to Christ when we are tired and He will give us rest. Psalm 107 explains how he rescues us from hunger and fills us with goodness.
We must let our children know that living a “wild” life may seem fun and attractive for a time. They may even feel as though they are the “King” of that world. But that happiness won’t last. They will only find true happiness when they live under the one true King. -Jesus Christ.

For other bible lessons using Children’s Literature:
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, and a Chance to Pray

Children Who Love Jesus may be at risk of catching: A Bad Case of Stripes

Is Your Mama a Llama? Are you the image of God?

The Paper Bag Princess and The Paper Bag Christian

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