In the Night Kitchen

Written and Illustrated by: Maurice Sendak
Much like "Where the Wild Things Are," Sendak takes the reader on a wild journey where a boy named Mickey travels into the night kitchen and is baked up into a cake and down in a big milk gallon. It is imaginative and creative with illustrations that look much like the very small beginnings of graphic novels at times. The pictures are abstract and include great detail in the background especially Many may see the book as controversial because Mickey is naked and exposed in a few of the pictures. It suffered great critisim in 1970 when it came out and was taken out of many libraries. I suppose this could stir up controversy, however as educators, it is important to ask ourselves if this book is really about a naked boy? In truth, it is about great adventure, dreaming and abstract thinking. There are so many types of literature that children are exposed to daily that are much worse and inappropriate - do we blindfold them? In truth, Sendak created an amazing book that all children should love and do love for reasons other than being naked.