Terry Gross

Bumble-ardy is a deeply imaginative tale about an orphaned pig who longs for a birthday party. Sendak, who is 83, wrote and illustrated the book while caring for his longtime partner, who died of cancer in 2007. "I did Bumble-ardy to save myself," Sendak says. "I did not want to die with him."

Vince Gilligan's AMC drama Breaking Bad stars Bryan Cranston as a high school chemistry teacher turned drug dealer. Gilligan says he pitched the show by telling AMC: "You take Mr. Chips and turn him into Scarface."

Student-turned-drug dealer Jesse Pinkman was supposed to die in the first season of the AMC drama. But the writers decided the chemistry between high school teacher Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse (Aaron Paul) was too good to let go.