For preschool-aged children, the most obvious attraction is the sing-songy dialogue, from Mickey shushing his parents to the bizarrely single-minded chants of the funny-looking bakers.įor most adults, the art is the key. Much like Alice in Wonderland (albeit far simpler), Night Kitchen offers something different for every group. Wild Things has become one of those perennial bestsellers that no child’s room would be complete without, and Outside Over There has earned its share of accolades from fantasy-loving adults – amongst other honours, it was one of the primary influences on the movie Labyrinth – but in my opinion, Night Kitchen is Sendak’s masterpiece, the pinnacle of his ability as a children’s writer and a graphic artist.Ī number of elements come together to make Night Kitchen a fantastic experience for multiple audiences. They are some of the best children’s books ever written.
Almost all of Maurice Sendak’s books and illustrations are good, but these three go way beyond good. They all depict situations of stress in very matter-of-fact fashions, turning real world anxieties into fantastic adventures that children can easily latch onto and understand.Īll three of these books are wonderful works of art. All three of the books deal with children setting out on bizarre nocturnal journeys, entering dreamscapes that seem terribly threatening to adults but are really just business as usual for small children. Maurice Sendak’s most controversial book, if not quite his strangest, In the Night Kitchen is the middle book of a conceptual trilogy, the other two parts of which are Where the Wild Things Are and Outside Over There.
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