Google has been cooking up clever “doodles” that celebrate people and events for years. Today’s doodle goes for a walk on the wild side by celebrating the 85th birthday of author Maurice Sendak, best known for the 1963 book Where the Wild Things Are.

Where the Wild Things Are tells the story of young boy named Max who dresses in a wolf costume and is transported to another world, full of wild creatures. The Google doodle starts with Max walking through scenes related to his tale and then transitions to other characters created by Sendak, including Mickey and the three bakers from In The Night Kitchen.

Senak died two years ago at the age of 83, but his work lives on in his books and other media. Where the Wild Things Are was turned into a 2009 film by director Spike Jonze.

Check out other scenes from today’s Google doodle below:

Google’s Doodle designers are, if nothing else, extremely prolific. And now Google wants to share the secrets to their productivity.

Working alongside Discovery Education, the company is inviting kids on a virtual tour of the offices where its designers and engineers work on the doodles.

The tour itself is free, and Google’s broadcasting it live on Friday at 1 p.m. Eastern/10 a.m. Pacific.

The tour, which is the first of its kind at Google, is a part of Google’s ongoing Doodle 4 Google contest, which invites kids to design their own Google Doodles for cash, prizes, and infinite bragging rights. 

I like the project, but it has always seemed a bit incongruous coming from a technology company like Google. What, exactly, is its angle here?

Ryan Germick, who leads the Doodle team, said that that program is good for Google because it gives the company a chance to connect with young artists. “We hope to give [kids] a glimpse into the possibilities for careers in the arts as well as show them how artist and engineers can collaborate to create something special,” he said by email.

That makes sense, but it probably doesn’t hurt that the program also gives Google’s image a big boost. But maybe that’s just me being cynical.

Google is launching today its annual Doodle 4 Google contest, which invites artistic kiddies to create Google Doodles for the chance to win cash and gadgets, not to mention a spot on the world’s most popular homepage.

This is the sixth year Google has run the competition, and the stakes are sure to be pretty high. Google received 114,000 submissions last year, and the winning entry, which you can see above, came from a 7-year-old from Wisconsin. (Who said Google didn’t like pirates?)

In addition to a $50,000 technology grant for their school, the winner will get a $30,000 college scholarship, a Wacom tablet, and, of course, a Chromebook.

While all that is good for the kids, our more suspicious readers would want to know what Google gets out of all of this. Google’s response is simple: “Doodles are meant to surprise and delight people when they visit the Google homepage. Who better to surprise and delight than talented and creative young artists!,” the company exclaims.

While a combination of Google employes and guest judges (which this year include Katie Couric, ?uestlove, and Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward) decides which entries become finalists, the final word rests with Google executives. Clearly, this whole thing is important enough that it goes all the way to the top.

Google is accepting entries until March 22 and plans to grace its homepage with the winner on May 23.