Contrariwise: Literary Tattoos Tattoos from books, poetry, music, and other sources.

Where the Wild Things Are Week, Day 4

Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are arrives in theatres in 3 days!

This is Miss Grace's tattoo of one of the Wild Rumpus scenes from Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak:

I've wanted this tattoo for almost a decade.  My favorite book as a child, my son's favorite book now.  I am a children's services librarian by training (although sadly not by trade - I'm currently in a bookstore), and I wrote extensively on the work of Maurice Sendak, and specifically Where the Wild Things Are, in conjunction with earning my master's degree.  I'm going to have have it colored true to the original illustration.  Tattooist is George Campise.

Where the Wild Things Are Week, Day 3

Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are arrives in theatres in 4 days!

This is Alex's Where the Wild Things Are tattoo.

Where the Wild Things Are Week, Day 2

Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are arrives in theatres in 5 days!

Deana's Where the Wild Things Are tattoo comes with a complicated story:

I got this when my son was 9 months old.  His name is Max, and he was born with a very rare metabolic disease which caused a severe form of epilepsy.  At 4 months old, we had surgery to remove the part of his brain that was causing 250 seizures a day.  The whole time he lay in the pediatric ICU at the Children's Hospital, we would tell him to keep fighting...to ROAR!!!  He pulled through, and we made it out of there with our son.

I always loved the name Max, and was certain I would name my son that.  I could have never imagined how he would turn out to be such a fighter.  Or all the Wild Things he would have to face in his short life.

I chose this particular scene in the book because, this is the point where Max met the Wild Things, and tamed them with his magic trick.  And they called him the most wild thing of all.

"...And when he came to the place where the wild things are they roared their terrible roars...and gnashed their terrible teeth...and rolled their terrible eyes...and showed their terrible claws...till Max said "BE STILL!" and tamed them with the magic trick of staring into all their yellow eyes without blinking once...and they were frightened and called him the most wild thing of all...and made him the king of all wild things." "And now," cried Max, "let the wild rumpus start!"..."

That's how I see my Max.  As the most wild thing of all.  The one who told all the other wild things to BE STILL!  And the rest of his life has been, and forever will be the wild rumpus.