The illustration on the front cover is framed like a widescreen movie. The boat represents the transition into adventure. The yellow of the sail represents passion and energy of the child in his imaginative musings while it moves from the right to the left, known to the unknown. Alternatively, the sailboat also symbolizes the connection to reality, an exit from the dream. Oppositely, the monster is on the right, which lends to the idea that the story is moving into a world of the unknown full of risk and adventure; however, it seems ironic that it is sleeping, contrasting the placement provoking adventure. The sleeping “wild thing” foreshadows that the setting is inside of Max’s dreams and imaginations. The wild thing is also seen with human feet but this is the only human aspect to him. Is this supposed to be an allusion to Max as the creator on the cover? Maybe, maybe not… Perhaps, it’s the presence of his mother! (For more information, refer to the Visual Image tab and explore for yourself!)
The end pages are a full bleed double page spread of the bushes that cover the wild thing island. They are drawn in a crosshatched pattern, suggesting energy, movement, and motion making you want to touch them. It starts to get you wondering what is hiding behind the bushes on the page and makes you feel as if you are there waiting for what is going to jump out. The fact that the story is enveloped with this image of the bushes shows that even though the dream diminished in the story, the vivid imagination of the boy lives on.
Illustrated on the title page, there is a cut out of Max on the right, indicating adventure and the cut outs of the wild things on the left, are being led by Max towards the “known”; but their eyes tell us a different story. Both Max and the Wild Things are being pushed into their unknown while still looking back at their reality. Max, being on the right, is in the midst of the unknown but is linked to his reality by facing to the left connecting him to his problems at home—his desire to be in control. For the wild things this is opposite because the place of Max’s dream adventure is their home. They are positioned on the left being pushed towards the unknown world that max created but still linked to their known on the right. So while max is placed on the right for adventure, the wild things are looking to the right because it’s their home and vice versa. The cut outs make it feel like action is taking place and foreshadows Max’s journey of working out his problems at home in a dream setting when he is leading these beasts that are bigger and scarier than he is and how that scenario unfolds.
The back cover is a similar image as the front cover but with the absence of the wild things and the sailboat. In the foreground, the scene employs mainly cool colors that calm and distance the reader; however in contrast, behind those trees in the background are warm color tones that draw the reader back into the world of the wild things creating a spark for future adventures.