We stopped by the library this afternoon to pick up a movie my daughter wanted to watch (Tangled if you must know). We were in a hurry as the library closes early on Saturday but I had to make a quick check of the Friends of the Library sale section before we left. And I am glad I did as I picked up a copy of Maurice Sendak‘s In The Night Kitchen for a dollar! And since I just put my kids to bed I figured I would share this find with you my loyal audience.
I used to check this book out of the library frequently when my son was younger. I think he liked the big pictures and the playful, dreamlike quality of the story. I have read it to him before bed dozens of times at least. So when I saw a copy at the library sale I knew I had to pick it up.
For those unfamiliar with the story, it tells the tale of a boy Mickey who wakes up to noises in the night only to fall naked into “the light of the night kitchen.” There he finds three large bakers baking cake for the morning. They put him in the cake at first, mistaking him for milk, but he is having none of it.
I’m not the milk and the milk’s not me! I’m Mickey!
Instead, Mickey takes the dough, molds it into an airplane, flies it to the milk, and pours some out for the bakers.
Soon after Mickey falls safely back into bed.
And that’s why, Thanks to Mickey, we have cake every morning.
It really is a wonderful example of Sendak’s work. Playful, imaginative, otherworldly and yet somehow real too.
And this is why I always stop and look at the book sale when at the library.
You never know what you might find. My children’s bookshelves are proof of that.
And if you need a bedtime story, here is the book in video form:
Watch In the Night Kitchen on PBS. See more from WENH.
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