Maurice Sendak

With Papa off to sea and Mama despondent, Ida must go outside over there to rescue her baby sister from goblins who steal her to be a goblin's bride.

Rosie, a perfectly ordinary little girl, like all perfectly ordinary children, is filled with strange and wonderful fancies. When it gets too monotonous being just plain Rosie, she transforms herself into a variety of alluring creatures, all of whom bear the mark of the original Rosie.

Sometimes Rosa and Willy behave like the two little alligators in the stories Cousin Joan tells them.