Outside Over There
| Outside Over There | |
|---|---|
_cover.jpg) | |
| Author | Maurice Sendak |
| Illustrator | Sendak |
| Cover artist | Sendak |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Picture book |
Publication date | 1981 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 40 pp |
| ISBN | 0-06-443185-1 |
Outside Over There is a picture book 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.
Plot
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 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)[1][lower-alpha 1]
- School Library Journal Best Book
- Caldecott Honor Book
- Horn Book Fanfare
- Library of Congress Children's Books
Other
The 1986 film Labyrinth was inspired by the book. The closing credits state "Jim Henson acknowledges his debt to the works of Maurice Sendak".
The book is featured in the 2003 Japanese film Café Lumière. It is used to help the main character, a young Japanese student named Yoko, interpret a dream.
Notes
- ↑ 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.
References
- ↑ "National Book Awards – 1982". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-02-22.
| |||||||||||