Thursday, June 26, 2008

In the Night Kitchen


(Remember this, Mama?)


This night reminds me of one of my favorite almost-forgotten books, Maurice Sendak's In the Night Kitchen. My mom bought it for me when I was five or six but it waited patiently in the top of her closet for years due to nude illustrations of the little boy. (The nudity bothers librarians, principals, teachers, mothers--not children.)

From what I can remember, Mickey floats out of bed and into a huge kitchen where he falls into some dough that bakers are making into bread. He has a grand adventure in which he fashions a plane out of dough and flies into the milk, and then he falls right back into bed as though nothing happened.

Working at night has always fascinated me. I get distracted so easily, and during the day when I have people calling me on the phone, Jordan telling me a story and a whiny baby chasing me around, it's hard to get anything done. At night there is no one to sidetrack me; I can turn my music on and zone out. Jordan fell asleep and I slipped out of bed. He and Suzi are cuddling in a deep sleep and I am taking a break from laundry and picking up toys. When I'm finished I'll slide back into bed and no one will have noticed I was missing. In the morning when they come downstairs it will look as though a winged fairy maid has picked up after us. I will drink a cup of yummy coffee we bought at Whole Foods and go to work.

I want to read this book to Suzi in a year or two. I hope we can find our old copy.

5 comments:

Beth said...

Sounds like an interesting book...but why is he nude? Isn't it great when you can get things done without a baby or husband interfering??

Are you guys going to freedom fest this weekend?

Anonymous said...

That book sounds very interesting. I will have to check at my local library and see if they have it, just because I'm curious now. I hope you and Jordan and Suzi have a wonderful vacation. Take lots of pictures at the aquarium!

Jenny said...

He was nude because he fell out of his pajamas on his way to the Night Kitchen. Some people say Maurice Sendak only did this to cause an uproar, but he said he did it because the illustrations and story wouldn't have worked with Mickey's pajamas on. He ends up in a suit of dough. I can understand that and I don't see a problem with it.

I didn't know about Freedom Fest and we'll be gone this weekend! :( We are going to take our camera and video camera though.

Anonymous said...

Going to check this book out. Thanks for pointing it out!

Anonymous said...

YOU'RE TAGGED! Go to my blog to find out what to do