insights subsequently gleaned from more than a decade of talk therapy, I had been left cold by Where the Wild Things Are." Deborah Stevenson, a writer for The Horn Book Magazine, talks about the effects the book had on a child who "screamed, apparently not with delight, every time Where the Wild Things Are was read to him. It is quite possible for some young readers or listeners to be moved to alarm by a book, just as they can be moved to joy or excitement or boredom." Sendak responded to this criticism in an interview, asking, “Did she hate her kid? Is that why she was tormenting her with this book?” Despite the book's popularity, Sendak refused to produce a sequel; four months before his death in 2012, he told comedian Stephen Colbert that a sequel would be "the most boring idea imaginable". Where the Wild Things Are was number four on the list of "Top Check Outs OF ALL TIME" by the New York Public Library. Adaptations An animated short cartoon based on the book, which had taken five years to complete, was released on September 8, 1973, directed and animated by Gene Deitch and produced at Krátký film, Prague, for Weston Woods. Two versions were released: the original 1973 version, with narration by Allen Swift and a musique concrète score composed by Deitch himself; and an updated version on September 23, 1988, with new music and narration by Peter Schickele. In the 1980s, Sendak worked with British composer Oliver Knussen on a children's opera based upon the book. The opera received its first (incomplete) performance in Brussels in 1980; the first complete performance of the final version was given by the Glyndebourne Touring Opera in London in 1984. This was followed by its first U.S. performance in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1985 and the New York City premiere by New York City Opera in 1987. A concert performance was given at The Proms in the Royal Albert Hall in London in 2002. A concert production was produced by New York City Opera in spring 2011. In 1983, Walt Disney Productions conducted a series of tests of computer-generated imagery created by Glen Keane and John Lasseter using as their subject Where the Wild Things Are. In 1999, Isadar released a solo piano musical composition titled "Where the Wild Things Are" which appeared on his album Active Imagination, inspired