‘Where The Wild Things Are’ most borrowed book at Brooklyn Public Library

The most borrowed title at the Brooklyn Public Library is “Where the Wild Things Are,” the children’s fantasy classic by Maurice Sendak.

Earlier this month the library revealed the top five checked-out books to mark the landmark institute’s 125th anniversary.

The library has 163 copies in various languages of the award-winning book about a boy named Max who goes on a journey — sometimes a rampage — through his own imagination after he is sent to bed without supper.

It did not say how many times copies of the book have been borrowed but noted it took multiple factors into consideration such as checkout and circulation data, historical bestseller lists, and years since publication dates.

The library had been counting down the list with ten titles a day starting with the 125th most borrowed book on October 27.

The final ten, published on November 14, showed that the second most popular book was “The Snowy Day,” by fellow Jewish author Ezra Jack Keats.

The next three spots were taken by “The Cat in The Hat,” by Dr. Seuss, “A Christmas Carol,” by Charles Dickens, and “Are You My Mother?” by PD Eastman.

“We look forward to the next 125 years of providing free and open access to information and connecting readers to the books and stories that will inspire them, spark curiosity, and keep them reading for decades to come,” library president and CEO Linda Johnson said in a statement.

The top two books also dueled in the past for the most borrowed book title in a similar list issued in 2020 to mark 125 years since the opening of the New York Public Library. Keats’s book took the top spot on that list having been borrowed 485,583 times.

“Where the Wild Things Are” earned Sendak a prestigious Caldecott Medal for the best children’s book of 1964 and became a hit movie in 2009. Then US-president Bill Clinton awarded Sendak a National Medal of the Arts in 1996 for his vast portfolio of work.

Agencies contributed to this report.