In the Night Kitchen

Mickey travels to the night kitchen in his dreams and finds himself mixed into cake batter when the bakers confuse him with milk so he seeks to set the bakers straight and goes looking for the proper ingredient. As usual, Sendak's illustrations are stunningly detailed and inviting, creating a whimsical, imaginative backdrop for Mickey's midnight adventures. While In the Night Kitchen has been challenged for its depiction of Mickey's genitalia, I didn't find the illustrations offensive - indeed, I don't think Mickey's adventures would have made as much sense if he hadn't been nude since he spends a lot of time covered in cake batter and later immersed in a giant jug of milk. Had he been wearing clothing, the illustrations would not have show more flowed as smoothly and Mickey would be lacking the freedom that makes his actions in the night kitchen possible. The story is fun and silly, reminescent of the kind of fantasy a young child might invent as he drifts off to sleep. show less

Every word in this is pretty much perfect. Where the Wild Things Are is great, but it's also a bit more an adult's precious idea of how a kid is sometimes--the everydayness of this one, the way the kitchen and the Oliver Hardy chefs are totally mundane but also totally freaky, and all the things that happen make no sense but all in the service of breakfast ("and that's why we have cake every morning," Sendak says, straightfaced, and I wonder if they did or what?), and Mickey the kid chortles through it all and comes out of the batter looking like a dough octopus--there are worlds hidden behind the ones we know and nothing has any cause or effect but it's still all AWESOME--that's how I remember toddlerhood, as the midpoint between show more "Little Nemo" and Spirited Away. show less

In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak is a picture book that encourages children to have creative imaginations through its own elaborate and wild plot line. The main theme or message this piece seeks to convey to readers is that childlike wonder and whimsical thinking or dreaming is incredible.
The main character, Mickey, is a young boy that wakes up from his slumber and falls into the night chefs’ cake batter in the night kitchen. The illustrations present the cake pan and the three bakers as very large objects. The city behind the bakers consists of boxes of ingredients and baking materials that seem huge with the use of perspective. Mickey proceeds to get baked into the cake in the large baking pan until he emerges from it and show more states that he is not the ingredients the bakers thought he was. He corrects their recipe and kneads the bread dough into a plane, which he then becomes the pilot of. Once he is the pilot, Mickey completes the rest of the recipe for the bakers since they could not figure it out for themselves in the first place, then drifts off to sleep while they bake up the batter the boy had crafted. Mickey becoming the pilot, or the leader, of the dough plane was symbolic for his leadership as the sole creator of the cake dough recipe. Mickey’s wild imagination and dream that led to the perfect cake the following day in the story challenged the norms of regular baking and presented an inventive new way to make cake batter. This encourages children to dream big and let their imaginations guide them.
Although I never dreamt I was a baker, I played with toys a lot when I was a child. I made my Barbies drive cars and fly even when I had neither right in front of me. I let my imagination run free as Mickey did, and I found new ways of playing and new ways to socialize like my Barbies did as I grew older. show less

Banned Book Week 2017. This year I'm reading a few picture books that have been challenged for their content, this one due to the full frontal nudity of a male character.

If it weren't for the toddler's penis and the appropriation of the image of Oliver Hardy would anyone even remember this blah [b:Little Nemo in Slumberland|9461548|Little Nemo in Slumberland|Winsor McCay|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1286309110s/9461548.jpg|384594] ripoff? Why bother banning something so forgettable?

Personal bias disclosure: I really, really, REALLY, REALLY hate dream sequences.

“Greta abides by the reasonable philosophy that there is nothing in the universe more boring than someone else's dreams.”
― Elan Mastai, All Our Wrong Todays

Maurice Sendak's In the Night Kitchen tells the story of Mickey, a young boy who dreams of helping three bakers make a cake. The imaginative illustrations and dreamlike adventure make the book fun and unique. While the story can be a little strange, its creativity and artwork make it memorable. Overall, it's a classic children's book that encourages imagination and is worth reading.

This is a silly tale of Mickey that floats off his bed, naked and free to find out he is to become the most important ingredient in 3 bakers' cake! Sendak's use of cool colors create a quiet, dreamy, yet adventurous enviornoment for Mickey. Thick black outlines assist with the organic-like draiwing of the figures while they diminish in the background amongst the kitchen-themed cityscape. Some parents and children may be uncomfortable with the book for a few reasons. Mickey's clothes are removed and he is drawn with all his extremities, his white skin is associated with white milk as a requirement for the 3 bakers' cake, and there is a reference to God at the end of the story. Any of these reasons may pose concern; however I would not show more refrain from reading this book to a child or allowing a child to read this book on her/his own. Though these references may be considered inappopriate by some, others might adore this book for its silly references and childlike innocence of the story. show less

Mickey heard a racket downstairs and demanded quiet whereupon he fell through the dark and lost his clothes.

In a dream like trace, Mickey is transported into the light of the night kitchen were he meets three bakers. The bakers drawn by Sendak very much resemble Laurel and Hardy, with Nazi like mustaches.

Mixing Mickey in the batter, with little concern that he will be harmed, they attempt to bake him in the oven.

Mickey escapes in a pile of dough shaped like a plane, stealing the measuring cup, he finds a large bottle of milk and measures enough for the three bakers to make their morning cake, without him inside!

Mickey slides down the side of the giant milk bottle and is transported back into his bed.

This was, and continues to be a show more controversial book.
Many object to the fact that Mickey is fully nude with exposed genitals.

The large question is: Is child nudity "morally acceptable?"

Interestingly, this book is on the American Library Association list of books banned. It holds the place of 25th of the 100 most frequently challenged books.

Oh, gesh, I say to all those uptight librarians, dust off your pearls! show less