"At 82, children's-book author Maurice Sendak has created a new wild thing—a pig who longs to party.
HarperCollins will publish "Bumble-Ardy," the story of a pig who has his first-ever birthday party when he turns 9. It will have a print run of 500,000 copies. Mr. Sendak first began to develop the character in 1971 in an animated short produced for "Sesame Street," by Jim Henson.
Mr. Sendak said he had been unable to forget Bumble-Ardy. "He was funny. He was robust. He was sly. He was a sneak. He was all the things I like," Mr. Sendak said.
Maurice Sendak
Mr. Sendak has provided the illustration, story or both for more than 100 titles, including "Where the Wild Things Are," in 1963, which has sold more than 10 million copies. "Bumble-Arby" is the first book he has both illustrated and written in nearly 30 years.
The "Bumble-Ardy" video for "Sesame Street" centered on a boy whose mother goes to work on his birthday, unaware that he has invited nine pigs over in her absence. About 20 years later, Mr. Sendak sketched out a book adaptation, but he became distracted by other projects. In 2008, still captivated by the idea, he sat down at his drawing table. He transformed his boy into a pig whose parents never celebrated his birthday (in the book's dark prologue, the parents get eaten; the pig is raised by his aunt).
When Bumble's ninth birthday rolls around on June 10 (which is also Mr. Sendak's birthday), Bumble invites over a styful of pigs for a costume party: "And just in time he asked some grubby swine to come for birthday cake and brine at ten past nine."
Mr. Sendak said he changed Bumble from a boy to a pig because "boys tend, generally speaking, to be pigs."
He made a few other tweaks as well. Bumble's guests went from drinking wine on "Sesame Street" to imbibing "brine" in the book. "I didn't think I could get away with wine in this day and age," he said."
