Lately, there's been plenty of talk about Maurice Sendak’s most famous book – you know the one. But Sendak wrote over twenty books and illustrated more than double that amount. One of my faves is In the Night Kitchen, written in 1970.The story is about Mickey, a boy who “fell through the dark…into the light of the night kitchen.” The bakers are getting ready to make their cake for the next morning, when Mickey falls right into the batter. He gets stirred and scraped but eventually gets out of the cake declaring that he’s not the milk and he’s not the cake, he is just Mickey.
The book has plenty of baking terminology such as dough, yeast, rising, kneading, batter, and measuring. It would be a great to share while you’re waiting for something to come out of the oven.
Of course the illustrations are vivid and enticing, especially the nighttime scene. Full disclosure, the book has been subjected to some censorship because Mickey takes off all his clothing for his nighttime adventure. But the kiddos in my class have been able to handle it. It's definitely worth a read!
2 comments:
I had this book as a child, I can't remember anything much about it, but images from it still haunt me today - I take that as a sign of a great book.
Funny - I know some people who claim to "not get" this book. To me....it's the ultimate dream sequence - totally non-sensical and larger than life in more ways than one. What's not to get:) ?
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