In the Night Kitchen (Caldecott Collection) [Paperback]

Maurice Sendak (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Release date: January 18, 1996 | Age Range: 4 - 8 years | Series: Caldecott Collection

1971 Caldecott Honor Book
Notable Children's Books of 1940--1970 (ALA)
Best Books of 1970 (SLJ)
Outstanding Children's Books of 1970 (NYT)
Best Illustrated Children's Books of 1970 (NYT)
Children's Books of 1970 (Library of Congress)

Carey-Thomas Award 1971--Honor Citation
Brooklyn Art Books for Children 1973, 1975

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

When asked, Maurice Sendak insisted that he was not a comics artist, but an illustrator. However, it's hard to not notice comics aspects in works like In the Night Kitchen. The child of the story is depicted floating from panel to panel as he drifts through the fantastic dream world of the bakers' kitchen. Sendak's use of multiple panels and integrated hand-lettered text is an interesting contrast to his more traditional children's books containing single-page illustrations such as his wildly popular Where the Wild Things Are. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

In addition to Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak's books include Kenny's Window, Very Far Away, The Sign on Rosie's Door, Nutshell Library (consisting of Chicken Soup with Rice, Alligators All Around, One Was Johnny, and Pierre), Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life, In the Night Kitchen, Outside Over There, We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy, and Bumble-Ardy.

He received the 1964 Caldecott Medal for Where the Wild Things Are; the 1970 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration; the 1983 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, given by the American Library Association in recognition of his entire body of work; and a 1996 National Medal of Arts in recognition of his contribution to the arts in America. In 2003, he received the first Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, an international prize for children's literature established by the Swedish government.

Product Details

• Age Range: 4 - 8 years
  
• Paperback: 40 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (January 18, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0064434362
• ISBN-13: 978-0064434362
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.2 x 11 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (159 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,014 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #97 in Books > Children's Books > Social Situations > Sleep

More About the Author

For more than forty years, the books Maurice Sendak has written and illustrated have nurtured children and adults alike and have challenged established ideas about what children's literature is and should be. The New York Times has recognized that Sendak's work "has brought a new dimension to the American children's book and has helped to change how people visualize childhood." Parenting recently described Sendak as "indisputably, the most revolutionary force in children's books."
Winner of the 1964 Caldecott Medal for Where the Wild Things Are, in 1970 Sendak became the first American illustrator to receive the international Hans Christian Andersen Award, given in recognition of his entire body of work. In 1983, he received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award from the American Library Association, also given for his entire body of work.
Beginning in 1952, with A Hole Is to Dig by Ruth Krauss, Sendak's illustrations have enhanced many texts by other writers, including the Little Bear books by Else Holmelund Minarik, children's books by Isaac Bashevis Singer and Randall Jarrell, and The Juniper Tree and Other Tales from Grimm. Dear Mili, Sendak's interpretation of a newly discovered tale by Wilhelm Grimm, was published to extraordinary acclaim in 1988.
In addition to Where the Wild Things Are (1963), Sendak has both written and illustrated
The Nutshell Library (1962), Higglety Pigglety Pop! (1967), In the Night Kitchen (1970), Outside Over There (1981), and, We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy (1993). He also illustrated Swine Lake (1999), authored by James Marshall, Brundibar (2003), by Tony Kushner, Bears (2005), by Ruth Krauss and, Mommy? (2006), his first pop-up book, with paper engineering by Matthew Reinhart and story by Arthur Yorinks.
Since 1980, Sendak has designed the sets and costumes for highly regarded productions of Mozart's The Magic Flute and Idomeneo, Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen, Prokofiev's
The Love for Three Oranges, Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, and Hans Krása's Brundibár.
In 1997, Sendak received the National Medal of Arts from President Clinton. In 2003 he received the first Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, an international prize for children's literature established by the Swedish government. Maurice Sendak was born in Brooklyn in 1928. He now lives in Connecticut.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

203 of 207 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars My daughter adores this book even if I don't. June 14, 2003

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

I didn't want to give this book five stars. I fought against it, because I don't particularly enjoy the book. The illustrations aren't that attractive to me and it took me a while to get used to the rhythm of the words.

Having said that, I give this book five stars because my daughter LOVES this book. I sometimes have to hide it at night because I'm so tired of reading the "Mickey" book. Apparently Sendak knows an awful lot about what children like and how their minds work, because my daughter seldom tires of the story. (Her favorite part is when Mickey takes the measuring cup and goes up and up over the Milky Way.)

I'm honestly a little surprised over the "nekkid" controversy. It's not like the boy is drawn in explicit detail! My daughter's seen boy babies getting their diapers changed, so the concept of a penis is HARDLY frightening/startling/damaging to her. Geez, lighten up people!

Also, for those who were complaining about the concept of cake for breakfast, why don't we consider how many American children get French toast, pancakes, donuts, poptarts, or sugar-coated cereals for breakfast? Hardly nutritionally superior to cake, so I'm not lying in bed at night obsessing about the poor nutritional messages this book is sending to my child. :-)

134 of 141 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Always My Favorite Picture Book April 13, 2000

By Michael

Format:Hardcover

At age four or five I deemed this the greatest picture book ever, and in almost 30 years I have never changed my mind. Every aspect of it is so beautiful and inspired, from the surreal color tones and the supple, flowing line to the swift yet dreamlike pace. But just as impressive is its plot.

Mickey's journey is startling, evocative, and totally convincing as a dream. His story gets deep under your skin because Sendak plays with the tension between some of the most powerful oppositions in childhood: the unknown versus the familiar, vulnerability versus security, dependence versus empowerment, creativity versus consumption. Yet the tone is light, playful, and encouraging.

Besides being a joyous read, this book is perfect for the developing mind because it encourages physical creativity to solve problems: the scene in which Mickey molds the cake-batter into an airplane is pure genius. And his actions blend surrealism, initiative, altruism, and a celebration of the self in a way that no other picture book I've ever seen has. Children will be deeply and wonderfully affected, even if it takes them years to figure out why.

88 of 95 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great, Dreamlike, Surreal Book - Obviously not for everyone October 5, 2004

By robb0117

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

"In The Night Kitchen" is the bizarre, surreal story of Mickey and his journey into the mysterious night kitchen where bakers are preparing the 'morning cake.' Mickey is the savior of the story getting the key ingredient, Milk, for the bakers to complete the cakes. Like "Where the Wild Things Are," "In The Night Kitchen" is the dream of the main character. Where Max's room turns into a jungle, Mickey "falls/ floats" down through his room into the fantastical kitchen-world that appears to be below his house. The story is a child's dream. It is not supposed to make perfect sense to adult minds. In all honesty, the book seemed a little weird and disjointed to me at first. But my son instantly loved it. He is now 3.5 and we have been reading this book to him pretty consistently for about a year and a half now. He still loves it. It grew on me as well. The subtleties in the art are very well placed, more so than "Where the Wild Things Are." If you realize the book is just the surreal journey of a child's dream you may not get weirded out by it, and may begin to appreciate the book for what it is, a great child's story. As mentioned, Mickey does get naked as he transitions from his bedroom to the night kitchen and into his 'dough-suit,' then again as he transitions back to his house. As it seems a lot of people get stuck on this one facet of the book. Chances are if a child being naked in a children's book makes you uncomfortable, you probably won't like this one for you kids and should probably just avoid it.

56 of 61 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Well, Mickey, this is another fine mess you've gotten yourself into. December 6, 2005

By E. R. Bird HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

Sometimes my job as a children's librarian leads me to think one way or another about a book. For example, if I discover that a book has been banned by a school or public library somewhere, that same book acquires all sorts of interest that it might never have gotten before. "In the Night Kitchen" is one such book. Banned for the nudity of its main character this title has always been considered the second rung in Maurice Sendak's creative and artistic trio (the first being "Where the Wild Things Are" and the third "Outside Over There"). Fuddy-duddy adults everywhere are consistently and predictably shocked by Mickey, the young protagonist who prefers to experience his adventures au naturale. By all rights I should enjoy this book. It has everything going for it! It has been banned, it's by the greatest living children's author today, it is considered a classic, and some of the newest reissues of it are breathtakingly gorgeous. I mean, they just don't reprint books like this twenty-fifth anniversary edition no more. That said, it's probably my least favorite Sendak creation. Sad isn't it? Though I'll fight to the death to keep this book on library shelves everywhere, I must admit that I don't much like it myself. It all just comes down to individual taste.

One night, Mickey hears an awful racket and by a process of falling and clothing removal finds himself in cake batter. The cake batter is in a gigantic bowl tended by three cooks who each bear a striking resemblance to Oliver Hardy. Mistaking Mickey for milk (it could happen to anyone) they mix the batter up with him in it and pop it into the oven. The baking doesn't work though and Mickey, now clothed in a suit of cake batter, fashions a small bi-plane out of bread dough.... With a jaunty measuring cup on his head, he flies up to the top of a gigantic bottle of milk into which he dives (thereby losing his clothes again). He then pours some milk down to the grateful chefs and a cake is baked. Then Mickey floats gently downward into his bed once more, "cakefree and dried". The moral of the story? "And that's why, thanks to Mickey we have cake every morning". The end.

So why don't I like it? I do in a way. This is Sendak at his detailed and wholly intricate best. The world of ingredients in which most of this story plays is almost as intriguing as the main story. I guess when you come right down to it, I've never much cared for this brand of surrealism. If something's surreal (like "The Red Book" by Barbara Lehman or "Who Needs Donuts?" by Mark Stamaty) then I need it to see it hold together in some way. "In the Night Kitchen" plays like an odd dream that a child might really have. A child that's watched too many Laurel and Hardy films, that is. I haven't a problem with the nudity. It's the whole baking into a cake aspect, I guess, that sets me off. That and the plot that isn't a plot. Though a tribute to Wildsor McKay's, "Little Nemo", I think I prefer the original itself. Actually, I did love how Sendak slips an oblique tip-of-the-hat to this master of the Sunday funny pages. It happens in a picture where Mickey glares from a bowl. He is being covered in ingredients and below him we see some sugar with tiny words on the label reading, "Chicken Little, Nemo". I'm no genius, but it doesn't take much to remove that comma and see the words, "Little Nemo" float before your eyes. Nicely done, Mr. S.

Of this book, its editor Ursula Nordstrom had this to say: "I think young children will always react with delight to such a book as 'In the Night Kitchen', and that they will react creatively and wholesomely. It is only adults who ever feel threatened by Sendak's work". She also says, "Should not those of us who stand between the creative artist and the child be very careful not to sift our reactions to such books through our own adult prejudices and neuroses?". We should indeed. A former college roommate once bemoaned to me the popularity of this book, citing her own childhood objections to its baking-kids ethic. It's hard to read a picture book and not find yourself weighed down by your own prejudices and hang-ups. Obviously, my friend objected to the book as a kid and that carried over into her adulthood whereas I met this book as an adult and was put off by it late in life. I would never prevent a child from reading it or hesitate to recommend it to someone who was already a fan of Sendak's work. I just don't care much for it personally, though I don't know how much weight that carries with you. This is a book that is going to get a different reaction out of every person who reads it. If you want a title that pleases everyone everywhere, look elsewhere. If, on the other hand, you want a highly original picture book for a creative kid who isn't squeamish in the least, "In the Night Kitchen" is the place to start. I didn't like it, but that isn't to say that someone else won't love it. Read more ›