The UrbanEye video feature of the New York Times has a great segment on Monday’s 80th birthday tribute to children’s author and illustrator Maurice Sendak at the Y. Watch here. Glynnis MacNicol of the FishbowlNY blog attended and reports:

The sold-out celebration featured a star-studded line-up of self-confessed Sendak fans reading and singing from his work. Some of the highlights included Spike Jonze, who showed a clip from his upcoming adaption of Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, Meryl Streep, who gave an Oscar-worthy reading of The Note on Rosie’s Door, and Dave Eggers who shared an excerpt from his upcoming novel called “Wild Things,” which according to him is a story about the screenplay he helped write (in real life with Spike Jonze) about the book Where the Wild Things Are. Catherine Keener read from an acceptance speech Sendak gave when he won the Hans Christian Andersen Award, in which he spoke about both his love of New York and of classical music. Keener finished off by offering Sendak the same wishes her own son had written to her in his last birthday card: I love you as much as a book loves it reader.

The children’s literature beat continues at the Y. On October 16, you can join R. L. Stine—the “Stephen King of children’s literature"—whose books have sold over 400 million copies, for a night of “Dark and Spooky Stories” perfect for adults and older children. Also, don’t miss this year’s Children’s Reading Series with Judy Blume, Jim Dale and Brian Selznick.