In the Night Kitchen (Caldecott Collection) | My feelings have changed about this book over time

In the Night Kitchen (Caldecott Collection) | A Multi-generational classic

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In the Night Kitch...

	In the Night Kitchen (Caldecott Collection) HarperCollins, 1996 - 40 pages average customer review:based on 101 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

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

My feelings have changed about this book over time

As a mother and a teacher, I am always looking for quality books to read to my fourth graders as well as my 3 year old daughter. Although I would never be able to read In the Night Kitchen to my class (parent complaints and such), it didn't take long for my little girl to fall in love with this book.
Sadly, many children today are lacking a tremendous amount of imagination, getting caught up in video games and the newest electronics. This is the primary reason why I knew I would expose her to Maurice Sendak. She's loved Where the Wild Things Are since she was a baby. I just checked out this book in the public library last week.
In my Children's Lit class in college many years ago, our teacher lectured us about the Freudian undertones of this children's book. Being young and impressionable, I vowed to myself to NEVER expose my future child to a book like this. Well, what can I say? I've learned quite a bit since then.
I'm a firm believer that nothing is a big deal unless you MAKE it a big deal. Sure, the book is certainly different from any other children's book you normally see. However, Sendak wrote this in 1970 and wanted it to be a nostalgic piece and he brought it into his illustrations. He was brought up reading comics of the 1940s, which is clearly seen in the story.
It's a whimsical, mystical story showing a journey through the imagination of a little boy. My daughter adores it and I often hear her quoting, "Quiet Down There!" and "Good bless me." I'm sure I will have a difficult time bringing this one back to the library, so I plan on purchasing it for her very soon. Thank goodness she has the Scholastic Video Collection that includes "Where the Wild Things Are" as well as "In the Night Kitchen."

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A Multi-generational classic

In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak was one of the books that we read over and over and over again to our children. All of us can quote much of it by heart. My son (now 30) was a daredevil from day one and he especially identified with this book. This copy was purchased for our newest granddaughter's 1st birthday, who is already a climber and looks like she might become another Mickey aficionado.

Get the Scholastic Sendak collection DVD to enjoy the book even more

As an adult, this has become my favorite children's book. My children loved this story on the DVD that Scholastic offers featuring Maurice Sendak stories. I think viewing this DVD, makes this book better since it lends a sing-song read to it afterwards. My kids & I love to quote the book when baking, singing "milk in the batter! milk in the batter! stir it! scrape it! make it! bake it!"

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