The old and time honored feeling of exclusion children get when their parents are busy doing something else is given humorous form in Mr. Sendak's second book written and illustrated by himself. While his mother is washing the baby, Martin runs away hoping someone will answer all his questions. How he meets a cat, a horse and a sparrow and how they all end up having an argument royal about the location of "very far away" makes an aptly symbolic comment on the futility of escapism and sends Martin resolutely back home. Laughable on the whole and at times ticklingly funny.
