Jack Sendak began writing at a very early age, collaborating with his brother Maurice in writing, illustrating, and binding their own story books, which they then lent out to family and friends. His love for books grew out of the bedtime foltakes his father, Philip, told every evening. Reviewers called Jack Sendak's books humorous, magical, and mysterious. Maurice Sendak's books have sold over 50 million copies and have been translated into more than 40 languages. He received the 1964 Caldecott Medal for Where the Wild Things Are and is the creator of such classics as In the Night Kitchen, Outside Over There, Higglety Pigglety Pop!, and Nutshell Library. In 1970 he received the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal for Illustration, in 1983 he received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award from the American Library Association, and in 1996 he received a National Medal of Arts in recognition of his contribution to the arts in America. In 2003, Sendak received the first Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, an annual international prize for children's literature established by the Swedish government.