Maurice Sendak, who wrote and illustrated beloved and beguiling children’s books, most notably “Where the Wild Things Are,’’ died at 83 in Danbury, Conn., on Tuesday, four days after suffering a stroke.

Creating volumes of dreamscapes and picture-book provocation, Mr. Sendak wrote and illustrated 20 books and provided the illustrations for dozens more. He injected the emotional realism of the “wild rumpus’’ - an irreverent explosion of childhood ecstasy - into a publishing genre that was more accustomed to rhyming reassurance.

When “Where the Wild Things Are’’ hit the children’s bookshelves in 1963, it shocked some readers. Populated by large, powerfully-drawn monsters, eyes gleaming with menace, it didn’t look like soothing bedtime reading. The book went on to win the 1964 Caldecott Medal for “the most distinguished American picture book for children’’ but it also drew criticism from the likes of child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim, who worried that the book was too disturbing for children.

Too disturbing for parents was the more likely problem. Mr. Sendak acknowledged what every child knows: The world is a scary and unpredictable place, and adults aren’t always reliable. The heroes and heroines who populate his books - Max, Mickey, Pierre, and Rosie among them - set out to put the adult world to the test. Drawn with bold confident lines, the kids strut, stomp, and holler their defiance. They pout and disobey and loudly proclaim to their parents, in the words of Pierre, “I don’t care!’’ But of course they do care, and they are testing to see if their caring is reciprocated.

Along with fellow artistic iconoclasts William Steig Shel Silverstein, and Jules Feiffer, Mr. Sendak rescued children’s books from the sentimental and predictable. Political cartoonist and playwright Feiffer had been friends with Mr. Sendak since the 1950s.