neighborhood landmarks

This time next year, on October 16, 2009, the Spike Jonze film adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are is scheduled to open. The film, shot with real actors and a combination of live-action puppetry and CGI, was originally scheduled to be in theaters now. I’ve read that Warner Brothers apparently was not happy with the finished product and test screening audiences felt it was too scary for children. I’m not sure Jonze necessarily set out to make a children’s film.

My first thought when I heard that someone was attempting a live-action CGI puppet film adaptation of the children’s classic was “good luck”. I then made a quick mental list of directors who could possibly pull it off. Michel Gondry was on the short list, as was Spike Jonze. It is interesting that both of these directors got their start in music, directing some of the most memorable music videos ever made. Their feature films haven’t been too bad either. With the artistic vision of Spike Jonze and the help of the capable Dave Eggers on the screenplay, Where the Wild Things Are promises to be one of the most original offerings of 2009.

Maurice Sendak created Where the Wild Things Are when he was living just east of Jefferson Market Library in a basement apartment at 29 West 9th Street, adding another literary landmark for you to check out next time you are in the neighborhood.

4 patchin place, a few steps from the jefferson market library just off 10th street, is the former residence of poet e.e. cummings (october 14, 1894 – september 3, 1962), who played a role in saving the jefferson market courthouse building.

the jefferson market courthouse closed in 1945 and after remaining vacant for many years was slated for demolition. In the late 1950s historic preservationist margot gayle enlisted the help of jefferson market neighbors including longtime village reseident e.e cummings to rally behind the idea of saving the former courthouse building. the jefferson market branch library opened to the public on november 27, 1967 and was declared a national historic landmark in 1977.

margot gayle died on september 28, 2008. last year the jefferson market library celebrated its 40th anniversary with a party attended by gayle who, at 100 years of age, was the guest of honor.

today is the 114th anniversary of the birth of e.e. cummings.

I am by no means an expert when it comes to children’s literature. I save that for the wonderful children’s librarians of The New York Public Library. In a readers advisory bind I can recommend some of the current series that the kids are reading and those classic children’s books that I’m particularly fond of now: Where the Wild Things Are, the Mo Willems Pigeon books, anything by David Wiesner, and Goodnight Moon.

Published in 1947, Margaret Wise Brown’s Goodnight Moon has certainly had a lasting appeal. Maybe it’s in the simple poetry of the book. Maybe it’s in the story itself: the prolonging of the act of saying goodnight, something that everyone can relate to. Maybe it’s because the story is easily adaptable into a ritual that parent and child can continue after reading the book. Maybe it is because the main character is a rabbit.

I don’t have any real recollections of ever reading Goodnight Moon as a child. When I think of that children’s classic the first thing that comes to mind is the episode of The Simpsons where Christopher Walken reads the book to a group of terrified children at a book fair. “Please, children, scootch closer. Don't make me tell you again about the scootching.”

Another thing that comes to mind is the interesting history behind a charming little house near the Jefferson Market Library. This 18th century farmhouse was the residence and writing studio of Margaret Wise Brown in the 1940s. At the time the house was located at 71st Street and York Avenue. It was there that Brown wrote many of her classics, including Goodnight Moon. Illustrator Garth Williams even depicted the house in Brown’s Little Golden Book, Mister Dog. The house later faced demolition and on March 5, 1967 it was moved from the Upper East Side to its present location at 121 Charles Street. Complete with a beautiful yard and a cobblestone driveway, it is a truly magical and unique literary landmark unlike any other residence in New York City. Take a look next time you’re in the area, then stop by Jefferson Market and read Goodnight Moon. Personally, I can never read that story again without hearing Christopher Walken’s voice in my head: “Goodnight room. Goodnight Moon. Goodnight cow jumping over the moon."