''Outside Over There'' is a

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The images ...

for children written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. It concerns a young girl named Ida, who must rescue her baby sister after the child has been stolen by

goblins A goblin is a small, grotesque, monstrous creature that appears in the folklore of multiple European cultures. First attested in stories from the Middle Ages, they are ascribed conflicting abilities, temperaments, and appearances depending on t ...

. ''Outside Over There'' has been described by Sendak as part of a type of trilogy based on psychological development from '' In the Night Kitchen'' (toddler) to ''

Where the Wild Things Are ''Where the Wild Things Are'' is a 1963 children's picture book written and illustrated by American writer and illustrator Maurice Sendak, originally published in hardcover by Harper & Row. The book has been adapted into other media several tim ...

'' (pre-school) to ''Outside Over There'' (pre-adolescent).

Synopsis

The main character, Ida's, father is away at sea. She plays her horn each night to make her baby sister sleep. One night while she is playing her horn and not paying attention to the baby, goblins sneak in through the window and steal her baby sister away, replacing her with a

changeling A changeling, also historically referred to as an auf or oaf, is a human-like creature found in folklore throughout Europe. A changeling was believed to be a fairy that had been left in place of a human (typically a child) stolen by other fairi ...

made of ice. The changeling melts as Ida cradles it and Ida, realizing what has happened, blows her wonder horn, dons her mother's yellow rain cloak, and sets off after her baby sister. However, because she exits the window backwards she enters Outside Over There where she cannot find the goblins or her sister. She then hears her father's voice telling her to turn around into the rain. She does so and interrupts the goblins, now in the form of babies, in the midst of a wedding. To find her sister among the crying babies, Ida plays a captivating tune on her horn until the goblins dance in a frenzy and fall into a stream. Ida then picks up her sister and heads home to her mother who has received a letter from her father where he promises to come home one day and asks Ida to watch over her sister.

Inspiration

In the documentary ''Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak'' (2009), Sendak describes his awareness in 1932 (around age 4) of the sensational

Lindbergh baby kidnapping On March 1, 1932, Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. (born June 22, 1930), the 20-month-old son of aviators Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was abducted from his crib in the upper floor of the Lindberghs' home, Highfields, in East Amw ...

case, including a newspaper photograph of the child's remains. That experience showed him the mortality and peril of children, which the adult Sendak has expressed in many books. ''Outside Over There'' draws more specifically from the Lindbergh case. A child is stolen from its crib through a window, accessed by a ladder, and one of the illustrations of the lost baby is a deliberate portrait of the infant Charles Lindbergh Jr. The theme of a protective sister is drawn from Sendak's own childhood, in which his older sister was his primary caregiver and devoted playmate.

Awards

Some honors for ''Outside Over There'':

* National Book Award for Children's Books, category Picture Books (hardcover)"National Book Awards – 1982"

National Book Foundation The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established, "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America". Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: 'The Joy Luc ...
. Retrieved 2012-02-22. Picture books were separately recognized for only two years in National Book Awards history, during four years when there were dual hardcover and paperback awards in many categories. * School Library Journal Best Book * Caldecott Honor Book * Horn Book Fanfare * Library of Congress Children's Books

In other media

Jim Henson's 1986 film ''

Labyrinth In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth (, ) was an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by t ...

'' was at least partially inspired by the book. The closing credits of the film state "

Jim Henson James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, cartoonist, actor, inventor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notice as the creator of The Muppets and '' Fraggle Rock'' (1983–1987) and ...

acknowledges his debt to the works of Maurice Sendak". The book is featured in the 2003

Japanese film The has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world; as of 2021, it was the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. In 2011 Japan produced 411 feature films that ea ...

'' Café Lumière''. It is used to help the main character, a young Japanese student named Yoko, interpret a dream. English singer-songwriter Will Varley sings a song of the same title inspired by the book on his 2015 album ''Postcards from Ursa Minor''. In

Victor LaValle Victor LaValle (born February 3, 1972) is an American author. He is the author of a short-story collection, ''Slapboxing with Jesus'', and four novels, ''The Ecstatic,'' ''Big Machine,'' ''The Devil in Silver,'' and '' The Changeling''. His fanta ...

's 2017 book '' The Changeling'', the main character recites passages from ''Outside Over There'' in an effort to understand his son's disappearance.

Notes

References