In the Night Kitchen

In the Night Kitchen

Children's Fiction

A boy of about three years-old named Mickey, is awoken from his bed at night from a strange noise. Suddenly he begins to float, he loses his clothes, and he finds himself in a surreal world called the Night Kitchen. He falls into a giant mixing pot containing cake batter and is only discovered by the three identical bakers when he emerges from the pan stating that he is not the batter's milk. Mickey, still covered in cake batter, then constructs an airplane out of bread dough and flies into the milk. When the batter disintegrates he pours milk down to the bakers who are joyfully finishing their cake. Then, dawns breaks, Mickey crows like a rooster and slides down the bottle, magically returning to his bed.

The book has been challenged due to Mickey's full nudity which is depicted in the illustrations, and some have interpreted sexual innuendo in the events, with the nudity, free-flowing milky fluids, and giant, allegedly phallic, milk bottle

Maurice Sendak

Harper & Row

1970

Hardcover

English