Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak is one of the most well-known and beloved children's books, winning the Caldecott Medal in 1964 and made into a movie in October 2009.
But another Sendak book honored by Caldecott – In the Night Kitchen – has also had recognition of a different sort. The book has been challenged for a few pictures of cartoonish nudity of the main character.
The American Library Association records at least eight instances throughout the nation since 1977 that the book has been either challenged, altered or outright banned. It has consistently made the association's list of banned books – making the top ten as recently as 2004 – and was 25th on the association's "100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000."
Story of In the Night Kitchen
The plot of In the Night Kitchen begins in a similar way to Where the Wild Things Are – with the main character of a young boy entering a strange, dreamlike world.
But where Max in Wild Things is soon crowned king of the Wild Things, Mickey in Night Kitchen falls out of his clothes and into the night kitchen, where everything including the buildings are either food or food containers.
Mickey lands in the cake batter of "the bakers who bake till the dawn." The bakers, who look like Oliver Hardy (of Laurel and Hardy) mix Mickey into the batter and nearly bake him into the cake.
Mickey pops out at the last moment and declares "I'm not the milk and the milk's not me." Wearing the batter like a jumpsuit, Mickey makes an airplane out of bread dough and flies off to meet the bakers' demand for "milk for the morning cake."
Reaching the top of a giant bottle of milk, he dives in and his batter suit dissolves. He declares, "I'm in the milk and the milks in me. God bless milk and God bless me!"
He pours milk out of the bottle into the batter and the bakers complete their cake. Mickey slides down the side of the bottle and back into bed.
Controversy Resulting from Night Kitchen
The primary objection to the book, according to the American Library Association, has been Mickey's full nudity, including penis and testicles, through much of the book. According to the "2007 Banned Books Resource Guide" by Robert P. Doyle, the strongest language in a challenge to the book was in Elk River, Minn., in 1992 where challengers said it could "lay the foundation for future use of pornography." Doyle also notes at least one instance of short being drawn on Mickey in 1977 in Springfield, Mo.
Sendak, however, said the choice to picture Mickey naked was a purely practical one, noting that putting Mickey fully clothed though cake batter and milk could only make an ugly mess of his clothing.
In a 2003 interview on NPR's Fresh Air, however, Sendak did say he was trying to deal with another controversial issue in the book – the Holocaust. Sendak said the moustached bakers attempting to place the young Mickey in an oven was meant as a reflection of Adloph Hitler's orders to creamate those who were killed in World War II concentration camps. The ALA has not recorded a challenge on these grounds.
In an article on Factmonster, citing the National Endowment for the Arts, Sendak said that in his books he tries to help children deal with fears in a straightforward manner.
“The point of my books has always been to ask how children cope with a monumental problem that happened instantly and changed their lives forever, but they have to go on living," he said. "And they cannot discuss this with anyone. No one will take the time. Parents are embarrassed so they'll shush them up.”
In that same article, children's novel writer Stephanie Tolan also said challengers miss the point.
"There are many people (few of them children) in the world of children's literature (and rather more outside it) who are offended by some of Sendak's work for a variety of reasons," she said But I believe those to be the people who don't remember childhood, who have repressed it and like to look back on it as a lovely time of play and innocence and joy. Sendak has a real ability to enter the landscape of childhood—real childhood—and render its lights and its shadows, too."
Night Kitchen Wins Awards and Attention Despite Challenges
In addition to the 1971 Caldecott honor, Night Kitchen has also earned Notable Children's Books of 1940 to 1970 from the ALA, Outstanding Children's Books of 1970 and Best Illustrated Books of 1970 from the New York Times and an honor citation from the Carey-Thomas Award 1971.
The story was also part of the animated "Maurice Sendak Library" in 1988, featuring music by Peter Schickele (of PDQ Bach fame), and left its namesake to Sendak's children's theater company - The Night Kitchen.
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