Maurice Sendak, "Outsde, Over There"

A lot has been written about Maurice Sendak this week. Many people my age remember  him from their early childhood with the debut his first children's book, "Where the Wild Things Are".
But Sendak wrote much more than that. He wrote everything from children's stories to operas. His illustrations went from literature to cartoons. Sendak did it all.
Although he was best known for "Where the Wild Things Are" Sendak wrote other children's stories as well. The one I enjoyed was called "Outside Over There".
"Outside Over There" is the story of a girl named Ida. Her father is at sea and her mother sits in the arbor waiting for him. Ida is left to watch the baby. When the book begins, Ida is trying to get the baby to sleep by playing her horn for her. But Ida's back is to the baby, and while she is not looking goblins come in to steal the baby, leaving a baby made of ice in the her place.
When Ida realizes the baby is gone, she climbs out her window to rescue the her. But enchantments prevent her from finding the baby until her father's voice singing over the sea turns her around. Ida finds her baby sister with the goblins, and brings her back home safely, where she finds her mother reading a note from her father, asking Ida to keep watch over her sister and her mother. Which Ida does very well.
If Maurice Sendak never wrote a letter of the alphabet, he would still be remembered for his beautiful illustrations. In "Outside Over There" his illustrations remind me of classical paintings in the middle ages. Yet when you look at the pictures closely there is something there that makes it not quite real, almost a fairy tale quality.
Sendak said in an interview that his inspiration for "Outside Over There" was the Lindbergh baby kidnapping. The story was adapted into a movie called "Labyrinth". Jim Henson's creativity helped to bring the goblins, and other creatures to life.
Maurice Sendak's death this week took from us an amazingly talented man in children's literature. But I have no doubts that somewhere, outside over there, another wild thing is dancing.