Sources all over are reporting the news that beloved and pioneering writer and illustrator Maurice Sendak has passed away at 83. The creator who is best known for Where the Wild Things Are was - according to the New York Times - widely considered the most important children's book artist of the 20th century,

The cause was complications from a recent stroke, said Michael di Capua, his longtime editor. The writer and artist, who mainly wrote for children, was both loved and criticized for taking away the sanitized veneer the children's story and exploring the darker side of the their minds and experiences. Sendak, who was born in Brooklyn and grew up in the shadow of the Holocaust also came out as gay in 2008, and struggled with that having never even told his parent's about his orientation, saying "all I wanted was to be straight so my parents could be happy. They never, never, never knew."

But while he may have struggled with the societal conventions put on him, he understood children in a way that few others did. He said this about Max, the protagonist of Where the Wild Things Are:

In plain terms, a child is a complicated creature who can drive you crazy There's a cruelty to childhood, there's an anger. And I did not want to reduce Max to the trite image of the good little boy that you find in too many books.

Moreover, he talked about why he wrote for his audience:

Kids don't know about best sellers They go for what they enjoy. They aren't star chasers and they don't suck up. It's why I like them.

He will be deeply missed.