Sign on Rosie's Door [Library Binding]

Maurice Sendak (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1960

There was a sign on Rosie's door that said, "If you want to know a secret, knock three times." Kathy, Rosie's good friend, knocked three times and learned the secret-that Rosie was no longer Rosie, but Alinda, the lovely lady singer.

Adventures with Alinda were fun for Kathy and Sal and Pudgy and Dolly. Even Lenny, who occasionally didn't believe in Alinda, was delighted by the Fourth of July celebration that Alinda, with the help of the Magic Man, held. At the end of the celebration, Alinda was gone forever, and Rosie had returned, but she soon found something else nice to be.

Maurice Sendak, the well-known artist and author-illustrator of Kenny's Window and Very Far Away, has written a story of real children, playing as only children know how. Young readers will wish that Alinda lived next door to them.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Maurice Sendak received the Caldecott Medal for Where the Wild Things Are. He has also received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, the National Medal of Arts, and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Library Binding
• Publisher: Harpercollins (June 1960)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060255064
• ISBN-13: 978-0060255060
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,424,764 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

For more than forty years, the books Maurice Sendak has written and illustrated have nurtured children and adults alike and have challenged established ideas about what children's literature is and should be. The New York Times has recognized that Sendak's work "has brought a new dimension to the American children's book and has helped to change how people visualize childhood." Parenting recently described Sendak as "indisputably, the most revolutionary force in children's books."
Winner of the 1964 Caldecott Medal for Where the Wild Things Are, in 1970 Sendak became the first American illustrator to receive the international Hans Christian Andersen Award, given in recognition of his entire body of work. In 1983, he received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award from the American Library Association, also given for his entire body of work.
Beginning in 1952, with A Hole Is to Dig by Ruth Krauss, Sendak's illustrations have enhanced many texts by other writers, including the Little Bear books by Else Holmelund Minarik, children's books by Isaac Bashevis Singer and Randall Jarrell, and The Juniper Tree and Other Tales from Grimm. Dear Mili, Sendak's interpretation of a newly discovered tale by Wilhelm Grimm, was published to extraordinary acclaim in 1988.
In addition to Where the Wild Things Are (1963), Sendak has both written and illustrated
The Nutshell Library (1962), Higglety Pigglety Pop! (1967), In the Night Kitchen (1970), Outside Over There (1981), and, We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy (1993). He also illustrated Swine Lake (1999), authored by James Marshall, Brundibar (2003), by Tony Kushner, Bears (2005), by Ruth Krauss and, Mommy? (2006), his first pop-up book, with paper engineering by Matthew Reinhart and story by Arthur Yorinks.
Since 1980, Sendak has designed the sets and costumes for highly regarded productions of Mozart's The Magic Flute and Idomeneo, Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen, Prokofiev's
The Love for Three Oranges, Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, and Hans Krása's Brundibár.
In 1997, Sendak received the National Medal of Arts from President Clinton. In 2003 he received the first Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, an international prize for children's literature established by the Swedish government. Maurice Sendak was born in Brooklyn in 1928. He now lives in Connecticut.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book the whole family will enjoy hearing again and again., January 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Sign on Rosie's Door (Hardcover)

I first found this book in my school library in New Zealand 32 years ago! Took it home to read to my baby sister, and the whole family sat around listening with delight. We still love it all these years later. Sendak's story and illustrations capture the childhood of the average kid - with humour and whimsy, and true psychology, but totally without condescension. In my family, this is considered a classic. Guard your copy well - future generations will appreciate it too!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic that's hard to classify, February 10, 2001

By 

Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sign on Rosie's Door (Hardcover)

I am so glad this book is still in print. It means that you can have the enjoyment of sharing the whimsical story about the quirky Rosie and the miraculous drawings of Maurice Sendak.

This isn't a saccharine kiddy book, or a gritty true-to-life drama of childhood situations. It's just a fine read and one of those books that kids ask for again and again. In our family, it was the favorite evening book of my baby sister, and I have to say, she has exquisite taste, then and now, 30 years later.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How did I miss this one?, October 20, 2009

By 

Sarah Hames "songbirrrd" (TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Sign on Rosie's Door (Hardcover)

I ordered a number of Sendak books for a class I am teaching, and selected this one without having read it. Now that I have it, I am am utterly charmed and wishing I would have discovered it years ago. The Sign on Rosie's Door is a delightful book that is closer in spirit to Little Bear than Where the Wild Things Are, and also reminds me of the Frances books by Lillian Hoban. It is one of those simple and gentle stories that seems to be about real children rather than what adults think children are like.

The book (much like Little Bear) contains four chapters, each with a different episode. In the first, Rosie shares the secret with her friends that she is no longer Rosie but is Alinda, the lovely lady singer. She is performing in a "great musical show" in her backyard. Unfortunately her friend Lenny keeps interupting. The interaction between the children is completely natural and delightful. Chapters 2 &3 show a day when the children have nothing to do and how it unfolds-again, with that whimsical sense of "this is something children would do." The last chapter shows their imaginative Fourth of July.

Sendak's has a special knack for capturing the essence of children at play. The personalities of the individual children, especially their leader Rosie (or Alinda) shine in both the story and the illustrations. I smiled at the page when, after an exiting day spent sitting on "Alinda's" porch waiting for "Magic Man" to arrive, the children tell their parents that "they had done so much there wasn't even enough time to do it in and they were going to do it all over again tomorrow." "Good!" all their mothers said.

Yes, good. This book is very good and you and the children in your life will be happy you picked it.

This is a gentle and charming story that is suitable for children of all ages.