Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, 1963.

One evening, Max puts on his wolf costume and starts causing trouble all over the house. His mother calls him a “wild thing” and sends him to bed early without supper.

As Max mopes in his room, a forest grows around him, and Max climbs into a boat and sails away.

Max eventually arrives at “the place where the wild things are.” There are all kinds of wild beasts and monsters there, and they make Max their king because he’s the wildest of them all.

After they all go parading about and swinging from trees, Max sends all the wild things to bed and is lonely because he wants to be with someone who loves him.

So, Max sails home again to have his supper, which is waiting for him, still hot.

Max’s magical journey is in his own head. Angry and hurt at being told off for his behavior, he imagined himself far away from where he was being punished, in a place where he could act any way he wanted and tell other people what to do. But, that wasn’t satisfying because what he really wants is to be loved and cared for. Wild monsters don’t get the kind of nurturing that small human boys get from their mothers, so there are benefits to being a civilized human. This is a classic children’s book about the power of a child’s imagination and how love and human feeling wins out over anger.

The book is a Caldecott Medal Winner. It’s available online through Internet Archive.