A Very Special House

A Very Special House, written by Ruth Krauss and illustrated by Maurice Sendak, is a 1953 children's picture book published by HarperCollins.

The illustrations by Maurice Sendak, which also precede and follow the text, include occasional supplementary words and phrases.

He brings to the special house a turtle, a rabbit, a giant, a dead mouse (in a box, according to the illustration), monkeys, and "some skunkeys and a very old lion".

The illustrations conclude with an image, at the right bottom of the verso of a pair of blank pages, of the little boy looking mischievously over his shoulder.

The New York Times Book Review called it "a revelation",[4] The New Yorker described it as "original and ebullient",[5] and Kirkus Reviews claimed that "Maurice Sendak's very entertaining pictures are perfect for Ruth Krauss's verses.