In the Night Kitchen

Children's picture book by Maurice Sendak

In the Night Kitchen is a children's picture book written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak, first published in hardcover in 1970 by Harper and Row. The book depicts a young boy's dream journey through a surreal baker's kitchen where he assists in the creation of a cake to be ready by the morning. In the Night Kitchen has been described by Sendak as part of a trilogy of books based on psychological development from In the Night Kitchen (toddler) to Where the Wild Things Are (pre school) to Outside Over There (pre adolescent). It was a Caldecott Honor recipient in 1971. It was adapted into a five minute animated short film on January 1, 1987, directed by Gene Deitch and released by Weston Woods. The book drew controversy in the US due to depictions of nudity.

While sleeping, a young boy named Mickey is disturbed by loud noises on a lower floor. Suddenly, he falls out of his bed and begins to float through the dark, then he loses all his clothes as he drifts into a surreal dreamworld known as the "Night Kitchen". Now arriving completely naked as he came, Mickey falls into a giant pot that contains the batter for the "morning cake". Three bakers (who closely resemble Oliver Hardy) arrived to mix the batter and prepare it for baking, unaware (or unconcerned) that Mickey is inside. Shortly after the pot is placed into the oven, Mickey pushes through the oven and emerges from the pot, protesting that he is not the batter's milk. Now covered in batter from the neck down, Mickey jumps out of the pot and constructs an airplane out of bread dough and flies to the mouth of a gigantic milk bottle while wearing a measuring cup on his head. He dives into the bottle and revels in the milk, during his time in the milk bottle Mickey's covering of batter disintegrates making naked again as he swims back to the top of the bottle. Mickey pours the needed milk in a cascade down to the bakers, who joyfully finish their morning cake. As dawn approaches and the bakers leave, Mickey stands naked and proud on the milk bottle and crows like a rooster and slides down the side of the bottle, out of the dreamworld and back into his bed, where he is cake free, dry, and clothed once again as he falls back to sleep. It is then stated that "thanks to Mickey, we have cake every morning".

When Mickey (who looks to be about three years old) enters the Night Kitchen, he loses his pajamas and is fully naked in some parts of the story. Critics object to Mickey's nudity which depicts not only his buttocks, but also his genitals. Some also interpret sexual innuendo in the events, with the nudity, free flowing milky fluids, and a giant (allegedly phallic) milk bottle. As a result, the book proved controversial in the United States on its release and has continued to be so. The inclusion of child nudity has been frequently raised as morally problematic; consequently, this book remains on lists of books either challenged or banned. The book has been ranked 25th on the "100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000" list compiled by the American Library Association.

Sendak's illustrations here are rather different in style from Where the Wild Things Are, his best known book, which makes much use of cross hatching not found here. However, Sendak continues to utilize specific color tones and drawing a dream environment around a young child. Sendak's unique style captures the spirit and feeling of a dream, as Mickey floats, flies and dances from one panel to the next. The book may be defined as a comic story, at least if one uses the definition of comics proposed in Scott McCloud's acclaimed Understanding Comics — the storytelling is mainly pictorial (albeit clarified by captions) and the images mainly sequential, and speech balloons are used throughout the entire book. In fact, the imagery is very similar to Winsor McCay's Sunday comic strip series Little Nemo from the early 20th century. Maurice Sendak has cited these comics as influential in his work, and on page five of Night Kitchen, one of the ingredients shown has a subtitle saying "Chicken Little, Nemo, mass", a nod to this influence. In an interview on NPR's Fresh Air in 2006, Sendak said that his depiction of the cooks in In the Night Kitchen (with their Hitler esque mustaches) and the fact that they tried to cook the boy in their ovens were references to the Holocaust, a subject high in his thoughts, especially due to his Jewish heritage. Sendak also said the story dealt with the things that happen after a child goes to bed.